SYNERGYCA Creation Lounge Awarded the Good Design Award 2022

Oct. 7, 2022

The “SYNERGYCA Creation Lounge” opened by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. in its Tokyo Head Office has been awarded the Japan Institute of Design Promotion’s Good Design Award 2022. SYNERGYCA is a space for the Company to interact and communicate with businesses, academia and other stakeholders to create ideas that will lead to the creation of new value. This award has been granted in recognition of SYNERGYCA’s mechanisms and systems for promoting lively discussions using advanced digital technology. This is the first time for Sumitomo Chemical to receive this honor.

Build in December 2021, when Sumitomo Chemical moved its Tokyo Head Office, SYNERGYCA was launched under the theme of "Let’s Talk to Make a Difference in the World: Chemistry for Innovation" as part of the Company’s initiatives to encourage open innovation. SYNERGYCA provides an extraordinary space with an inspiring atmosphere that distinctly differs from conventional meeting rooms. It has three areas defined by function: the "Get Together" area, which is designed to promote lively discussions by providing a space where people can sit and talk in a circle; the "Experiencing" area, which offers the visitors an opportunity to learn about the Sumitomo Chemical Group's history, products, technologies, and research and development projects through easy-to-understand digital contents and experiences with virtual reality (VR) technology; and the "Interaction" area, where the visitors and the Company staff discuss matters of interest and society’s issues to explore potential solutions together.

SYNERGYCA was awarded in the category of "Awareness Improvement, Management Method and Initiative of Industry." One aspect that earned it this honor was that not only does it provide a space for interaction, but also promote in various ways the mutual understanding with the guests as the first step for co-creation to generate new value. In particular, it received high ratings because the guests can, through the use of VR technology, virtually experience the Group’s facilities in Japan and overseas and see how the employees operate there as if the guests were actually with them. Even for guests joining the interaction at SYNERGYCA for the first time high-quality discussions in a short time can be expected, with the help from professional facilitators who work to help enliven discussions, as well as using “mind map” tools that visualize the discussion by arranging participants' ideas on a digital screen.

In the ten months since its opening, SYNERGYCA has served as a hub that connects the Sumitomo Chemical Group with a broad range of society’s stakeholders, including those in industry and academia, investors, and students. Encouraged by this award, Sumitomo Chemical will continue having SYNERGYCA used by as many people as possible as a “co-creation” space, and continue to strive to generate new value and address society’s major issues based on technology while leveraging the Group’s strengths.

SYNERGYCA project partners

Name of development partners	Areas of responsibility
Fumie SHIBATA	Design supervision
KOKUYO Co., Ltd.	Facility producer, project management, space planning, design and construction, and others
Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Ltd.	Space construction
Concent, Inc.	Development of customer experience of the co-creation program, planning and creation of digital and virtual contents, and others
D2C ID Inc.	Planning and creation of digital contents, sound production, and others
Smiles Co., Ltd.	Copywriting (facility name), development of visual identity (logo, color and others)
vivito Co., Ltd.	Planning and creating of the company introduction movie

Name of operation partners	Areas of responsibility
Future Sessions Inc.	Design of the operation flow and facilitation for the co-creation program
Sumika Technical Information Service, Inc.	Recording

Reference

SYNERGYCA Website: www.synergyca.jp

Contact

Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.
Corporate Communications Dept.
https://www.sumitomo-chem.co.jp/english/contact/public/