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TOSHIBA ANNUAL REPORT 1999
Page
32.
In line with the April 1st com-
pany-wide reorganization to
the in-house company sys-
tem, Toshiba changed its
R&D structure to shorten
lead times from research to
commercialization. A major
change was to shift more re-
searchers to the individual
labs supporting the in-house
companies. This crystallized a
commitment to speeding up
time to market for new prod-
ucts and to meeting the mar-
ket needs properly.
The corporate R&D Center
is charged with responsibility for develop-
ment of common technology platforms
supporting different business segments,
market-oriented basic research, and the
development of core technologies that will
contribute to the entire Toshiba Group.
April also saw the establishment of the
Corporate Development Center within
the head office, which is charged with pro-
viding strong promotion of new projects
and business development involving more
than one in-house company under corpo-
rate initiatives.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
GLOBALIZATION OF R&D
Globalization and mega-competition in
key industries are making themselves felt
in R&D, too. Recognizing this, Toshiba set
up two new information and communica-
tions laboratories outside Japan in fiscal
1998, forming a tripolar structure.
Toshiba America Research, Inc. was
established in New Jersey in December
1998. With Telcordia Technologies, for-
merly Bellcore, a leading US infrastruc-
ture developer, the lab is researching
next-generation Internet and networking
technologies. In Europe, the Telecommu-
nications Research Laboratory was estab-
lished in Bristol, England, in July 1998 to
research communication protocols and
wireless access technologies for next-
generation mobile communications.
THE WORLD’S THINNEST IC
PACKAGE
With its Paper-Thin Packages, Toshiba
has developed the world’s thinnest, light-
est semiconductor packages. Thinner than
a business card at a mere 0.13mm, they are
about one-tenth the thickness and weight
Amid today’s increasing pace of technology innovation, creating and sustain-
ing corporate value in the 21st century demands R&D capabilities that can
first of all generate products and services firmly grounded in market needs,
and then assure that they are commercialized and brought to the market in
a timely fashion.
97 98 99
100
200
300
400
R&D Expenditures
(¥ billion)
Mar.
Proportion of Net Sales %
Mar. ’97 ’98 ’99
6.0 5.9 6.0