Teijin Group Celebrates Centennial, Looks toward Next Hundred Years With “FUTURE NAVIGATION” Message

TOKYO — June 15, 2018 — Teijin Ltd. announced today that it will commemorate the 100th anniversary of its establishment as a company on June 17.

As it looks back over its century of history, Teijin is also taking the opportunity to look toward the next hundred years, unveiling a new global message of FUTURE NAVIGATION as it pursues its long-term vision, aiming to be an enterprise that supports the society of the future. Moreover, Teijin is marking its centennial with the THINK HUMAN PROJECT, a symbolic initiative that puts the Future Navigation message into practice.

Teijin was founded in 1918 as Japan’s first rayon manufacturer, and has retained the global mindset and adventurous spirit of its early days in the years since. Over its century of history, Teijin has grown its business and expanded into new fields through chemical technology, cutting-edge research and development, and epochal innovations, embracing ceaseless evolution and ambition.

The Teijin Group currently operates in the materials business field, providing its own high-performance materials, and the health care business field, including pharmaceuticals and home healthcare equipment, as it develops new business fields to create new value.

In future, the Teijin Group will further leverage its capabilities through business synergies and technical innovations, focusing on materials and healthcare as two pillars supported by its ICT technical foundation for creating and delivering its own distinctive solutions that help to solve social issues.

On the occasion of its centennial, the Teijin Group is launching the message “Toward the world we all desire: Future Navigation,” focusing on quality of life (QOL) for future humanity.

FUTURE NAVIGATION:

Technology will continue to advance as it has over the past 100 years. However, technology must not be allowed to overwhelm humanity. Chemistry must comprehend and care for humanity instead.

If Teijin’s chemistry can understand humanity better, if it can develop hopes for the future of humanity and evolve to improve QOL, then Teijin can help lead the way toward an ideal world.

Based on a long-term vision encompassing the entire century to come, Future Navigation is a message backed by Teijin’s long experience of resolving the issues that face humanity. With eyes on future QOL for humanity, the Teijin Group will show the way to the world that humanity desires.

To achieve this goal, Teijin will break through its passive attitude of providing solutions to existing issues and explore chemistry beyond materials and products to reach services, systems, and even interpersonal connections, creating new value that has never existed before.

By expanding the field of chemistry, the Teijin Group will become an enterprise that puts people first in its thinking — a proactive force for improving QOL for future humanity.

THINK HUMAN PROJECT:

Technological evolution in recent years has given us an ever-changing world.

As this evolution deepens into uncharted territory, what is happening to the journey of humanity itself?

Teijin has put people first in its thinking for the past century.

The message “Toward the world we all desire: FUTURE NAVIGATION” encapsulates Teijin’s goal of finding solutions for future humanity.

Divided into personal and social components, the THINK HUMAN PROJECT identifies key elements that Teijin will explore as ideas for humanity through analysis, research and publishing the results.

Based on the Future Navigation message, the THINK HUMAN PROJECT marks Teijin’s centennial with nine individual research programs looking beyond the traditional bounds of chemistry to create solutions in anticipation of future human needs. Activity on these programs is already well underway.

Each of the nine project teams has been assigned a theme drawn from the key elements of humanity to explore using a variety of angles and approaches. Project team members are selected from the Teijin Group employees across the globe. The teams will deepen their understanding of today’s humanity through rich creativity cultivated by their experiences in Teijin, search for ways to improve QOL for future humanity, and investigate their challenging hypotheses in collaboration with external experts.

Progress reports will be accessible through Teijin’s centennial anniversary website (https://100.teijin.co.jp/en/) and the results are expected to be announced later this year.

THINK HUMAN PROJECT

  • PROJECT 01: Environment – What will the society realized by a circular economy be like?
  • PROJECT 02: Aging – What does aging mean in a 100-year-life?
  • PROJECT 03: Sensitivity – Does sensitivity have value in communication?
  • PROJECT 04: Clothing – What can we learn from biomimetics in clothing?
  • PROJECT 05: Humanness – What will humanity be like when humans can augment their functions?
  • PROJECT 06: Mobility – How will automatic driving vehicles change values in the living sphere?
  • PROJECT 07: Super-aged society – How will the super-aged society change lifestyles?
  • PROJECT 08: Living space – How do living environments reflect biological clocks?
  • PROJECT 09: Food – How will commodification change dining experiences?

Communication Plan

The FUTURE NAVIGATION message and other initiatives celebrating Teijin’s centennial will be disseminated through Teijin’s centennial anniversary website and a wide range of media internally and externally. Focusing on aspects of QOL for future humanity, Teijin also will disseminate visual art questioning the meaning of humanness, the essence of humanity, and human society.

Posted June 20, 2018

Source:  Teijin Group

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