Konica Minolta Wins Good Design Award 2014 for New R&D Labs “Konica Minolta Hachioji SKT”

Tokyo (October 29, 2014) - Konica Minolta is pleased to announce that the company has been awarded Good Design Award by Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) for its R&D labs “Konica Minolta Hachioji SKT^* (SKT),” which opened in April 2014.

About SKT

SKT opened at Konica Minolta Tokyo Site Hachioji, the company's core technology development campus, in April 2014. The new building integrates overall development functions for digital printing systems, a growth driver of the company's mainstay Business Technologies business. In addition, SKT functions as accelerator for fusion and combination of varied technologies across diverse business sectors and promoter for internal and external “open innovation,” in order to enhance power of synergy for the creation of new value.
In July, the second floor of SKT was launched as “Co-creation Field”, a special place to drive open innovation. Customers and external partners are able to learn Konica Minolta's strengths and potential there so that they are strongly encouraged and stimulated to work with Konica Minolta and further think and create values to deliver to the customers.

Major Features of SKT Design

In its design, SKT exemplifies “light” and “color,” Konica Minolta's mastery technologies since its founding.

1. Spectrum Wall

The design motif of the Spectrum Wall on the west façade is light. The wall represents diverse activities on innovation through a rainbow-like light distribution due to spectral diffraction.

2. Large-scale atrium and surrounding offices

The atrium is at the center of the offices in a wide interior space, from the third to the seventh floors, with the sunlight coming through the top skylight. Wide staircases are designed in the atrium, giving engineers and researchers opportunities to come across each other who would not be likely to meet in older facilities, as well as encouraging spontaneous, face-to-face communication. Without partitions, office floors provide open and friendly atmosphere. These structural features help engineers expand communication across floors or technical fields and further develop new ideas that come from the enhanced communications. Surrounding the atrium are a variety of communication areas to get together casually for discussion.

3. Conference rooms to support global collaboration

In the midst of rapidly changing technologies and markets, close communication is a must for research and development activities among domestic and global laboratories or for collaborative works with external partners and customers. SKT has 50 conference rooms in the secured areas and most of the rooms are equipped with video conference systems. Up-to-the-minute discussions with partners or other sites of the Konica Minolta Group in far-away cities are crucial to step up the R&D activities. In association with the design concept of color, each conference room is named after an artist who pained masterpieces of color.

4. “Smart BCP (Business Continuity Plan)” to protect people and assets

SKT is equipped with a variety of environmental facilities, including solar panels on the rooftop, lighting sensors to control energy consumption on lighting, effective ventilation and use of well water, designed to reduce its environmental impact. These facilities work as an infrastructure for survival that ensures the autonomy of the building in case of disaster, which contributes to the realization of the smart BCP to protect people and assets in SKT. The building itself is equipped with the most advanced quake-absorbing structure, resulting in adequate security against severe earthquakes. SKT received the highest certification “Class S” in the CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency) for comprehensive evaluation of the quality and sustainability of a building.

These extensive efforts and features to assist creative activities have been highly evaluated as Good Design.

Comments from Screening Committee of JDP

The company's brand concept “light” and “color” are used as the main axes of the design. The overall environment helps strengthen motivation internally, while the corporate message is clearly communicated to visitors.

Overview of SKT

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SKT stands for Smart R&D Office for Knowledge Work and Trans-boundary Communication.