Konica Minolta receives the Grand Prix Award at the Nikkei SDGs Management Grand Prix

To remain sustainable and to contribute to the evolution of human society, Konica Minolta believes that companies must be able to identify latent problems that go beyond visible problems and develop solutions together with customers. Accordingly, Konica Minolta identifies problems by envisioning the ideal world decades ahead and working backwards to determine what needs to be done now and to develop new businesses. The company thus hopes to create new values that help to achieve the SDGs. Winning the Grand Prix award clearly confirms that Konica Minolta’s efforts are in compliance with the principles of SDGs management, and that its achievements to date deserve public recognition.

 

Examples of social values created by Konica Minolta

1. Connected Care with the Care Support Solutions service

With an increasing number of people needing nursing care in Japan, the shortage of care workers has become a serious social problem. Konica Minolta therefore developed and provides the Care Support Solutions service that transforms nursing care workflows. This service detects certain resident behaviors using near-infrared cameras mounted on the ceiling along with sensors that detect slight movements and sends a notification to the smartphones of care staff. It helps care staff grasp the situation and determine the best response, and enables staff to share information in real time. As care facilities often struggle to introduce such ICT equipment, Konica Minolta has also launched the Care Director service to train care staff as professional care directors who can analyse various data and effectively use them.

In the future, Konica Minolta plans to work with care service providers and IT companies, as well as care facilities, to create new values by sharing, interconnecting and analysing data mutually and to develop a “connected care” approach that allows the same level of care to be received at home as in a care facility.

 

2. Addressing medical challenges in emerging countries with remote healthcare

In Bangladesh, lifestyle-related diseases are skyrocketing, and quickly responding to patient needs is a critical issue in the healthcare field. In rural areas, where 60% and more of the population lives, there is a shortage of medical facilities, equipment, and doctors. In order to receive medical treatment, patients must travel considerable distances to urban areas. To address this challenge, Konica Minolta devised a remote diagnostic system that allows a rural clinic to take patient X-rays using portable equipment and upload the imaging data to the cloud, allowing doctors in the city to view the X-rays and make the appropriate diagnosis. After conducting a diagnostic pilot in 2017, a paid medical examination trial was begun in September 2018 in the capital of Dacca and the surrounding region, in a project adopted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Going forward, Konica Minolta will increase the number of examination sites and also work to reduce the cost of diagnostic services by analysing collected data and introducing AI-based screening.

 

Examples of environmental values created by Konica Minolta

1. Green Supplier activities

Konica Minolta conducts Green Supplier activities to reduce both environmental impact and operating costs by providing suppliers with environmental technologies and expertise that it has developed via its Green Factory activities. Konica Minolta’s environmental experts visit supplier production sites and propose suggestions for improvement, outlining cost reduction benefits, investment rationale, and other information. They then cooperate with suppliers as they take action to reduce their environmental impact.

 

 

 

2. Building a digital environmental platform

Konica Minolta has digitised and provided environmental expertise to many companies, through the biz-Library environmental management training tool and energy-saving diagnostics tool. Currently, Konica Minolta is building a digital environmental platform for sharing environmental knowledge with other companies and creating new values together. Konica Minolta hopes that the platform, through the accumulation of environmental expertise held by Konica Minolta and other participating companies, will grow and make significant contributions to solving environmental problems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Encouraged by the Grand Prix award, Konica Minolta will remain committed to delivering values to contribute to the SDGs on a group-wide basis, and grow to be a company with the ability to continue to create new values for the evolution of business community and human society.

 

Membership WIPO GREEN

At the same time, Konica Minolta announced in December 2019 that it has joined WIPO GREEN as a partner company to working on the SDGs in the field of intellectual properaty. WIPO GREEN is the international Marketplace for Sustainable Technology Konica Minolta Joins WIPO GREEN, the International Marketplace for Sustainable Technology, as a Partner CompanyWorking on SDGs in the Field of Intellectual PropertyClose

operated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of the United Nations since 2013. It consists of an online database and network and connects owners of new technologies with individuals or companies that are considering commercialising, licensing, or distributing green technologies to promote the innovation and spread of green technologies and contribute to efforts by developing countries to address climate change.

 

About Nikkei SDGs Management Survey

Nikkei SDGs Management Survey makes assessment on how companies address societal, economic and environmental challenges and tie their efforts to enhancement of corporate values by integrating SDGs in their management.The survey reviews the participating companies’ efforts and initiatives through their responses to multi-faceted questionnaires in four categories: SDGs strategy and economic value, social value, environmental value and governance.

Categories and review indices (according to Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun newspaper dated December 2, 2019):

SDGs strategy & economic value(5 indices)	Policy, Report & Communication, Organisation & In-house Immersion, Contribution to Business, and Financial Results
Social value(5 indices)	Human Rights, Response to Consumer Challenges, Response to Social Challenges, Work Hours & Vacations, Diversity
Environmental value(6 indices)	Policy, Global-warming Gas, Energy Consumption, Waste, Water Resources, Climate Change, Resources & Bio-diversity
Governance (1 index)	Governance (board of director structure, executive compensation coupled with financial results, and so on)

 

 

About Konica Minolta, Inc.

Konica Minolta, Inc. is a global technology company that provides innovative solutions to businesses and society. With its strengths in the combination of its core technologies in advanced imaging, optics, sensing, materials and nano-processing, Konica Minolta is committed to creating new values supporting customers to address challenges in their operations and work processes. Advancing its expertise in digital technologies, the company has been going through business transformation into a digital company, with insights into implicit challenges across the board as ‘One Konica Minolta’ in the era of Internet of the Things (IoT). Konica Minolta is also active in open innovation through various collaborations and alliances with academic, industrial and entrepreneurial partners.Headquartered in Tokyo, Konica Minolta has its Group companies in 50 countries with over 44,300 employees and offers products and services in 150 countries around the world.