Canon 2012 Annual Report Download - page 27

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25
(28.3%) to the Imaging System Business Unit, and ¥25.6 billion (8.6%) to the
Industry and Others Business Unit. Basic R&D expenses not allocated to specific
business units amounted to ¥87.4 billion (29.5%.) This focus on R&D activities
has cemented Canon’s high status in the field of intellectual property. In 2012,
Canon was granted 3,179 patents in the United States, ranking it third in the
world and the top-ranked Japanese company for an eighth successive year.
REINFORCING CORE TECHNOLOGIES
Canon is concentrating efforts on pre-competitive fields, involving research that
can take more than ten years. At the same time, the Company is continually bol-
stering activities centered on key parts and key devices in order to enhance the
competitiveness of its products. In CMOS image sensors, we successfully devel-
oped a 120-megapixel device. Going forward, we target further advances in
ultrahigh-resolution and ultrahigh-sensitivity devices while also considering
applications for these technologies in various fields other than digital cameras.
MEDICAL AND INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT
Canon is working to establish two new business pillars: medical equipment
and industrial equipment.
In medical device, for some years Canon has been involved in the “CK Project”
in collaboration with Kyoto University. Under the project, two of our technologies
have been brought to the clinical evaluation stage. One relates to a photoacous-
tic mammography device capable of diagnosing breast cancer more accurately
than before, with minimal bodily impact during examination. The other relates
to adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AO-SLO), which contributes to
the examination of the retina at the cellular level and the detection of lifestyle-
related diseases. We have started clinical evaluation into AO-SLO with a number of
universities and medical research institutes in Japan and abroad with the aim of
commercializing this technology at an early stage. Meanwhile, Canon U.S.A., Inc.
has established its R&D department to conduct joint research with Massachusetts
General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, both affiliated with Harvard
Medical School. This collaborative project focuses on development and commer-
cialization of unique medical devices in the area of biomedical optical imaging
and medical robotic technologies, among others. Accordingly, Canon is moving
forward in establishing a global R&D system for medical devices.
In the industrial equipment field, Canon is working to develop intelligent
robots and other systems through cutting-edge application technologies by inte-
grating high-precision machine vision technology with information technology
that operates as the brains of robotic systems. Canon is proceeding with R&D
of these application technologies with a view to use them beyond intelligent
robots in fields like risk prediction and the support and care of senior citizens.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Canon has integrated high-precision ma-
chine vision technology with information
technology to develop intelligent robots
that think and act on their own accord, one
of many areas where it has applied these
technologies.
The CK project, collaboration between
Canon and Kyoto University, targets the
practical application of innovative medical
imaging equipment. (Exterior of Clinical
Research Center for Medical Equipment
Development (CRCMeD) where the proj-
ect has been proceeding)