NEC 2013 Annual Report Download - page 29

The NEC Group owns approximately 65,000
patents worldwide, including approximately 23,000
patents in Japan (as of March 2013). NEC positions
intellectual property as “the important management
resources for the NEC Group’s business
competitiveness and stability,” and is working to
strengthen its intellectual property capability.
Specifically, NEC is concentrating on establishing a
global patent portfolio, to support quickly achieving
an overseas sales ratio of 25% as targeted in “Mid-
term Management Plan 2015.” In such areas as
SDN and smart energy in particular, NEC is carrying
out Group-wide strategic patent projects on a
global basis to obtain strong patents and patents
SDN. Other examples of original R&D programs
with global development potential include joint
research฀with฀Imperial฀College฀London฀in฀the฀U.K.฀
on the use of ICT in managing “smart” systems to
make more efficient use of water resources, and a
collaborative฀research฀program฀with฀SRM฀University฀
of India into more efficient electricity usage.
NEC also continues to focus on creating new
value in partnership with customers. By undertaking
R&D activities from more of a customer-oriented
perspective, NEC seeks to grasp underlying
that are being utilized.
Furthermore, NEC believes that participating in
standardization initiatives will help create and
expand businesses, and will also contribute to the
stable offering of products and services. In addition
to pursuing a business model that utilizes
standardization, NEC is engaged strategically in
standardization activities by actively participating in
standards organizations both in Japan and
overseas. Also, as part of external engagements
with intellectual property, NEC is actively pursuing
licensing activities to reduce business risks and
expand business opportunities.
customer needs and create timely R&D outcomes
based on a “Global Open Innovation” approach,
thereby maximizing value via the parallel
development of such results.
Through its R&D programs, NEC aims to
contribute to development of “Solutions for Society”
as outlined in the “Mid-term Management Plan
2015,” and to create new value to help realize “an
information society friendly to humans and the
earth” described in the NEC Group Vision 2017.
Heterogeneous mixture learning technology for automatic detection of recurring patterns within
Big Data
Technology for making highly accurate predictions and anomaly detection based on automatic extraction of
regular patterns contained in large amounts of data (a task difficult for humans)
High-speed, highly scalable compound event processing technology for analyzing the complexity
within Big Data
Technology for efficient collection and processing of large amounts of data taken from sensors and terminals to
support the delivery of real-time analytics services
Sensing technology for rapid qualitative differentiation of at least 100 products
Combining image recognition technology for large numbers of products at one time with technology to detect
items located in difficult-to-view areas, this technology is applicable to inventory management and demand
forecasting solutions
Image sharpening technology for distant objects or viewing at night or under other poor visibility
conditions
Round-the-clock real-time monitoring technology based on enhancing clarity of wide-area surveillance images for
distant objects or under night or other poor visibility conditions
Joint development with Tohoku University into new device for generating electricity from easily
accessible heat sources
Development of new thermoelectric device for power generation based on the “spin Seebeck effect,” using
coatings applied to various heat sources
Main R&D Achievements in Fiscal 2013
Intellectual Property Strategy
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NEC Corporation
Annual Report 2013
I
Business Report/Management Policies