Mizuno’s Innovation Center set to open in November
Operations at the MIZUNO ENGINE, will be in full swing as of November 2022, three years after Mizuno announced plans to build a research and development center to amplify its prototyping, testing and measuring capacities.
November 8th, 2022 – Mizuno Corporation’s research and development capacity is set to get a major boost when its new Innovation Center, MIZUNO ENGINE, begins operations in November 2022.
The Innovation Center is located on the premises of the company’s Osaka headquarters in Osaka City,Japan. The 6,500m2 facility, which costs approximately 5 billion yen, offers a designated space for measuring, manufacturing, and testing of all the company’s prototypes. It features a sewing room, adhesive/painting room, 3D workshop, an environmental test room, impact test room, a gymnasium, a track, artificial turf, and other spaces for testing, measuring and finalizing products in development.
By developing a wide variety of products such as footwear, apparel, and equipment simultaneously in a single facility, Mizuno expects to integrate technologies such as utilizing equipment development techniques for footwear. The trial-and-error cycle, such as sample prototyping and verification, can be performed in a shorter time which will lead to faster research and development.
But that’s not all. The Innovation Center also features a free-address office area, social space, and meeting rooms. It is also equipped with a space where employees with a wide variety of expertise can meet and actively exchange knowledge and opinions, share ideas, and transform ideas among themselves.
The Innovation Center’s name, MIZUNO ENGINE is a combination of the two meanings of “engine” in Japanese, which symbolizes the power of drive, and teamwork. MIZUNO ENGINE also conveys the idea of making the center a place where innovation is created through teamwork, which is the driving force of the company’s growth.
Since its establishment in 1906, Mizuno has undertaken many challenges together with athletes and sports lovers under the management philosophy of “Contributing to society through the advancement of sporting goods and the promotion of sports”. To this end, the company is focused on providing value that enhances people's three qualities; mind, body and technique by using technology that understands people-centered mechanisms and designs products and services to meet their objectives.
Through this new facility, Mizuno aims to create social innovation that solves social issues through the power of sports. The company is also aiming to accelerate co-creation with partners who share the "Mizuno Mirai Vision”. In fact, Mizuno recently signed a contract with Scrum Ventures, which operates a fund that invests in startup companies. Consequently, the Innovation Center will also take on the challenge of increasing the number of development seeds and creating new products and services by combining the know-how and core technologies that Mizuno has cultivated to date with the expertise and technologies of start-up companies.
For further information, visit:
https://corp.mizuno.com/en
https://corp.mizuno.com/en/technology