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Konica Minolta Opens Innovation Garden OSAKA Center, a Cooperation and Development Center for Imaging IoT/AI Technology
Creating New Value that Meets People’s Visualization Needs and Contributes to the Evolution of Human Society

November 19, 2020

Tokyo – Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) is pleased to announce that the company has completed the construction and opened the Innovation Garden OSAKA Center at the R&D center (Takatsuki Site) near Japan Railway’s Takatsuki Station to create businesses and develop technologies on a full scale by leveraging imaging IoT/AI and high-speed processing technologies, which are the strengths of the company. In August 2019, Konica Minolta opened the Innovation Garden OSAKA Front, an open innovation center for the development of imaging IoT in Japan’s western Kansai region, in Umeda, Osaka. The Innovation Garden OSAKA Center serves as a hub for imaging IoT/AI development and business creation in the Kansai area. Core human resources of imaging IoT/AI technology will be assigned to these centers to further promote the development of human resources. Konica Minolta will create various solutions that enable contactless, remote, and real-time response through imaging IoT/AI technology at Innovation Garden OSAKA, which is the collective term for the two centers. Konica Minolta remains committed to contributing to the evolution of human society by offering products and solutions that help create a safe and secure environment around the world for working professionals and the general public in the new normal, thereby achieving sustainable business growth.

Features of the Innovation Garden OSAKA Center

1) Establishment of an environment for developing next-generation hybrid 5G
The center features a hybrid 5G development environment, for both local 5G through co-creation with NEC and carrier 5G through co-creation with KDDI. This 5G environment using both local 5G and carrier 5G is expected to reduce the load on an entire system and significantly improve the performance. In this development environment, field operational tests will be conducted on the use of 5G to simulate the general office environment and manufacturing sites such as factories, and the linkage between indoors and outdoors. Demonstrations will also be conducted to verify the advantages of local 5G and carrier 5G.

2) Opening of the Open Lab, a co-creation space
The Open Lab is intended to promote industry-academia cooperation and open innovation, and will also feature a hybrid 5G development environment. The lab will be made available for partner companies in various industries and research institutes, such as universities, as a place for joint experiments toward practical application by gathering diverse knowledge and technologies.

3) Promotion of technology development for the FORXAI imaging IoT platform
FORXAI is an imaging IoT platform for accelerating digital transformation (DX) with customers and partners. Technology to visualize the invisible, which is derived from the photo film and camera business, the founding business of Konica Minolta, will be developed and offered.

Special Website of the Innovation Garden OSAKA Center

Konica Minolta has opened a special website to introduce the Innovation Garden OSAKA Center and accelerate DX with customers and partners:
https://imaging-iot.konicaminolta.com/labo (in Japanese)
A virtual showroom will be opened in December 2020.

Overview of Konica Minolta’s Innovation Garden OSAKA

The imaging IoT/AI technology development center will be opened in the Kansai region as part of efforts to accelerate DX by optimizing global development and production in order to further develop human resources and expand operations. The features and roles of the two centers are as follows:

1) Innovation Garden OSAKA Center (Takatsuki, Osaka)
The development center serves as a hub for developing imaging IoT/AI technology. It features a hybrid 5G environment and is equipped with the Open Lab to promote co-creation.
Address: 1-2 Sakuramachi, Takatsuki, Osaka 569-8503, Japan

2) Innovation Garden OSAKA Front (Umeda, Osaka)
This is an open innovation center adjacent to Umeda Station which is highly accessible. It helps generate innovative ideas based on blue-sky thinking in cooperation with local companies and universities.
Address: 32F Tower A, Grand Front Osaka, 4-20 Ofuka-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0011, Japan

For More Information

Konica Minolta’s imaging technology (optical devices and image sensing technology) × cutting-edge IoT and AI technology

FORXAI imaging IoT platform