Technologies and R&D Message

As changes in the environment, society, and economy become increasingly complex, companies are expected to leverage their strengths and continue creating new value. Since its foundation, DNP has created diverse products and services based on its printing technology, delivering value that people seek throughout society. We will continue to create new value that leads to sustainable growth by combining the technologies we have developed through the years with state-of-the-art technologies, such as AI, and by co-creating with our customers and partners.

DNP’s INSATSU goes beyond the bounds of printing text and images on materials such as paper. DNP has developed INSATSU in its own unique way into a technology that creates new value by providing the surfaces of materials, such as paper, film, or metal, with diverse functions and information.

We view this technology as a combination of the two Japanese characters “IN” (印) and “SATSU” (刷). IN represents the technical field in which we design value through activities such as planning, design, information processing, and microfabrication, while SATSU refers to the technical field in which we reproduce and mass produce this value, with a high level of precision, through activities such as precision coating and post-processing. These are supported by related technologies such as materials development as well as assessment and analysis. By combining various technologies, we continuously create new value.

In the 150 years since our foundation, we have expanded from printing on paper to diverse business areas including industrial high-performance materials, medical & healthcare, semiconductors, digital interfaces, and mobility. This concept of combining technologies and continuously converting them into new markets and customer value is the “P&I Innovation” set forth in our Business Vision.

DNP’s R&D fundamentally begins with its business units, which are its customer touchpoints. Our business units identify issues and needs from customers and markets, and they begin creating value by sharing these issues and needs with our R&D divisions, which are controlled by the head office. Our R&D divisions are responsible for the process from 0 (technology exploration and creation) to 10 (practical application). Those technologies are then transferred to our business units, which take them from 10 to 100, growing our business. Through company-wide strategy design and topic selection, we advance the entire process from R&D to commercialization as an integrated whole, steadily transforming the results into business value.

To support this framework, in fiscal 2025 we invested 42.2 billion yen in R&D. We will continue this investment over the three years starting in fiscal 2026, with a total of approximately 120 billion yen. By concentrating our management resources in focus business areas, we will advance our basic technologies, which are the source of our future competitive power.

As the globalization of pioneering R&D, human resources, and customers and partners advances, DNP is strengthening its overseas R&D bases. We opened a new R&D base in the Netherlands in 2025 and one in India in 2026, and are conducting R&D that makes use of the characteristics of each region. At our base in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, we are focusing on next-generation semiconductors, working with advanced research institutions and companies to acquire state-of-the-art technologies and build global networks.

At our base on the campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, we are also conducting joint research primarily in the mobility and medical & healthcare fields. In India’s growing market, we combine local research platforms and talent with DNP’s basic technologies to accelerate demonstration testing and real-world deployment, conducting R&D with a view to commercialization.

DNP has positioned intellectual property as an important management asset that serves as the foundation of its sustainable growth. We incorporate our intellectual property strategy from the conceptual stage of business strategy, with business divisions, development divisions, and intellectual property divisions working together as one to focus on areas where we expect growth. We strategically develop patent portfolios that encompass both core technologies and peripheral technologies. This will contribute to the differentiation of our business and greater profitability.

DNP also identifies social issues and customer needs through dialogue with leading brands in Japan and overseas, and takes these issues and needs into account in its R&D and business development. Another major strength of DNP is its ability to handle everything from material design to production process development, production equipment development, and the installation and maintenance of production equipment in-house, using an integrated approach. By integrating R&D and equipment development, we build optimized production systems that balance productivity and quality, ensuring the reliable delivery of customer value. Furthermore, by keeping our proprietary production processes and related know-how confidential, we create high barriers to entry for competitors. This enhances the competitiveness of our products with leading global market shares, which help address social issues and create customer value.

DNP is concentrating its R&D resources in focus business areas such as industrial high-performance materials, medical & healthcare, semiconductors, digital interfaces, and mobility, accelerating the creation and commercialization of technologies. Our R&D personnel each play a pivotal role in this.

DNP’s INSATSU has limitless potential to create value by providing the surfaces of materials with functions and information. We will drive the further evolution and refinement of the IN and SATSU technology foundation we have developed through the years. By combining this foundation with state-of-the-art technologies and diverse expertise from within and outside DNP, we will take on the challenge of creating new value. Through co-creation with our customers and partners, we will create value that helps solve social issues and meets people’s expectations, contributing to a better future and sustainable growth.