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Executive Vice President and Executive Officer, Responsible for Technologies, Imaging-IoT Solution Business and Visual Solutions Business
"FORXAI" — Imaging IoT platform for transformation
In recent years, many companies around the world are tackling Digital Transformation (DX) in need of reformation.
Konica Minolta is also leveraging its strengths to tackle transformation with a vision statement, "Go Beyond Human Vision", "conveying our hope of exceeding human visual capability to realize hopeful societies".
Our strength is our own "technical strength in images" that visualizes invisible things, which we have been fostered through cameras, copiers, and medical diagnosis instruments. We are now developing Imaging IoT technologies that combine these existing technologies and the latest AI and IoT technologies.
Thus, we announced Imaging IoT platform, "FORXAI (pronounced "forsai")", to accelerate the creation of high-quality solutions based on these "Imaging IoT technologies".
FORXAI contributes to the advancement of workplaces and the realization of safe and secure societies around the world.
FORXAI partner program solves social issues
Issues that customers have are getting increasingly complicated in this modern society with diversifying concepts of values. In this era, solving problems requires highly professional technologies and channels to diverse industries. Many companies that do not have both of these assets are probably at a loss. With diversifying needs, Konica Minolta is also confronting increasing difficulty in taking quick actions only with our own know-how. Thus, we considered that Konica Minolta and these companies can solve issues by joining assets to complement each other.
Konica Minolta disclosed an IoT platform as well as our own edge devices and Imaging AI technologies to start "FORXAI Partner Program" with partner companies, which enables quick provision of services with small initial investment. Immediately after the start of the program, we began to see new solution projects with the collaboration of FORXAI partners that have their own strengths in technologies and channels. For example, projects of store marketing digital transformation and smart factories were launched through collaboration with partners that have strength in channels.
These projects boost values by combining their solutions with high-quality Imaging AI technologies of Konica Minolta.
In the existing business domains of Konica Minolta, collaboration with partners having technical competence in cloud, AI, embedded devices, etc. enabled us to line up technical variations necessary for the realization of diverse solutions.
Promoting global innovation through partner collaboration
With 80% of sales being made overseas, Konica Minolta engages in global business with about two million customers in 150 countries. We are using the FORXAI technologies in projects such as a gas leak monitoring system for the oil gas industry in North America, and the digital transformation of manufacturing companies in Europe using Imaging AI technologies of Konica Minolta.
We are also laying groundwork for collaboration in training and the establishment of development sites toward the global development of FORXAI. Such efforts include joint research of AI technologies with University of Toronto in North America and the strengthening of human resources conducted together with solution development engineers in Europe for the development of office AI services. By joining strengths of Konica Minolta and partners that have excellent know-how in technologies and industry channels, we believe that we can provide solutions that respond to globally-ongoing large transformation and build an ecosystem that continues to provide values to society. Let's work together and innovate the world.