In the middle of May, a main part of WinD Lab, a new laboratory building at the Osaka Works, was completed. To celebrate the establishment, we held a shubatsu-shiki, a Shinto ceremony for purification. The ceremony was presided over by a Shinto priest of nearby Ubusuna Shrine.

Although I couldn’t attend the ceremony due to another commitment, many executives from the Osaka Works and the R&D-related divisions gathered to participate. During the ceremony, tamagushi, sakaki-tree branches, were offered to a deity with the hope of accelerated development of new products and technologies and workplace safety as well as the Group’s prosperity.

The Osaka Works, established in 1916, has the longest history among all Sumitomo Electric business offices. The need was seen for the reconstruction of R&D-centered facilities in the Osaka Works, and three years ago we decided to launch the reconstruction project to mark the 110th anniversary of Sumitomo Electric’s founding. Following that decision, the steering committee of the project held a total of 34 monthly meetings. Representatives from the R&D, facility designs and corporate staff section concerted all their efforts, discussing the building designs and floor layouts.

I heard that, during the ceremony held at the new building’s stairwell entrance hall, the voice of the Shinto priest echoed resonantly, creating a very solemn atmosphere. We hope that this new building will connect our discrete laboratories and research facilities more closely as the hub of our R&D, promoting interaction among researchers from different fields. I’m sure that such technical communication will facilitate the generation of new products and technologies across research organizational boundaries.

We still have many things to do, such as relocating research equipment and constructing an assembly hall. It will take another year to complete the entire reconstruction project. I’m sure, however, that the completion of the main part of the building marks a great accomplishment to those who had been engaged in the project. I hope that the entire project will be completed without any problems.

I wrote the letters of teiso, meaning “foundation establishment,” in kanji characters on the building’s cornerstone, in wish for the continued prosperity of the Sumitomo Electric Group and the R&D Division, which is one of the Group’s important foundations.

The “WinD” of WinD Lab stands for “Win Development.” The building is a new laboratory for winning development races.

Now that the new laboratory building is completed, I hope that the staff members who will work there do their best to quickly launch new businesses in growing fields: “Environment and Resource Conservation,” “Life Science,” and “Safe, Secure and Ubiquitous Society.” These fields will play a major role in promoting the Group’s further growth.