Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd, the research and development arm of Fujitsu, is inviting the companies customers and partners to take an earlier role in the development of new “service-oriented business” technologies.

 

Addressing the Fujitsu Laboratories European Forum in London, Fujitsu Laboratories’ President, Kazuo Murano said that pace of innovation means that new products are no longer the fulcrum of modern competition. “The battleground is moving up from products to research and development” he said, requiring business to take a more proactive role in the commercialisation of technologies such as those developed by Fujitsu Labs.

 

“Now more than ever innovation is key to the growth of economies, societies and enterprises,” said Murano. In Japan, spending on R&D has reached an all time high, at 3.5% of GDP, and the pressure is now on for business to do more, and to take an earlier role in converting this R&D investment into new products and services.

 

At the moment, Murano said, too many new technologies fail because they fall into the “valley of death” – the gap that exists between the development strategies of research groups, and the business needs of customers.

 

To bridge this gap, Murano called on business to place “greater focus on demand pull for research and development. If we stick to the old technology push model, and continue to rely mainly on in-house technology development, too many technologies will still fall into the ‘Valley of Death.’ Instead, we want the market to pull more.”

 

Fujitsu is encouraging its own systems businesses, including its European joint-venture company Fujitsu Siemens Computers, and their customers to build partnerships with Fujitsu Laboratories. “We want to shift from contract research to joint research – including exchange of personnel – to produce more win, wins” for business and research, said Murano.