Message from the CTO / Innovation Policy

I assumed the role of chief technology officer (CTO) in April 2026.
At the Mitsubishi Chemical Group, our Purpose is to lead with innovative solutions to achieve KAITEKI, the well-being of people and the planet. In 2024, we announced KAITEKI Vision 35 and Medium-Term Management Plan 2029, and in December 2025, we held our corporate strategy meeting.
Within these frameworks, we identified five business focus areas. In the Chemicals Business, where strengthening profitability remains a challenge, we reorganized the business portfolio into four quadrants―Next-generation, Growth driver, Cornerstone, and Structural reform―based on the two axes of growth potential and profitability. Through this approach, we clearly defined our strategy to ensure the continuous growth of core operating income in the Chemicals Business. In parallel, we have established the three disciplined approaches in business operations—pricing policy, investment decision‑making, and asset optimization—as our core policy, and are driving initiatives across the company to enhance corporate value.
In this context, Innovation will play a central role, advancing R&D to support earnings growth in the Chemicals Business and to realize KAITEKI Vision 35 and the Medium-Term Management Plan 2029, as outlined below.

Society is rapidly becoming more complex due to demands for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, stricter chemical regulations, advancements in EV technology, the emergence of innovative AI systems, the rapidly growing semiconductor industry, and the increasing importance of reliable supply chains. As a result, customer needs are also becoming more diverse. To address these complex social challenges and customer needs, we must continue to deliver innovative solutions.

Innovation has three fundamental responsibilities:
1.Thorough improvement of technologies and products
2.Creation of next-generation businesses through the development of innovative technologies and products
3.Enhancement of R&D productivity to efficiently fulfill the responsibilities above

These responsibilities shape our policies:
・Company-wide optimization: Work in close collaboration with business groups, with Innovation operating as an integrated function to address business challenges
・Contribution to earnings and growth, portfolio transformation: Address technological challenges in each of the four quadrants of the Chemicals Business portfolio and accelerate technology development, with a focus on the Next-generation and Growth driver quadrants
・Enhancement of R&D productivity: Enhance R&D speed and success through talent development, AI utilization, and the practical application of core technologies

To implement these policies, we carried out an organizational restructuring in April 2026. The new structure is a matrix organization that brings together the R&D heads of the Next-Generation Business Development Division, the Science & Innovation Center (SIC)—our research hub—and business groups under the CTO’s leadership, while maintaining close collaboration with business groups. In addition, the CTO, the R&D heads, and the head of the Intellectual Property Division convene as the Innovation Committee to regularly share information and issues, and engage in discussions to swiftly address technological challenges across the company and enable the cross-functional use of core technologies.

Our existing businesses remain the core of our earnings. We continuously strengthen our technical service capabilities to enable prompt responses to customers through the technology development system within each business group. At the same time, we will combine core technologies cultivated across different business groups and through the development of next-generation businesses to address increasingly complex and sophisticated needs as well as demand for global expansion.

・Next-generation: thermal management materials, gallium nitride (GaN), semiconductor extreme ultraviolet (EUV) resist, optoelectronic integration, and chemical recycling of waste plastic by oilification
・Growth driver: carbon fiber and composites, high- performance films, semiconductors and engineering shapes and solutions
We will concentrate resources in these areas while advancing new R&D initiatives by leveraging our CVC (Diamond Edge Ventures), information infrastructure, and core technologies (SIC).

To enhance the productivity of our R&D, it is essential that we develop the right talent and make effective use of AI. Amid diversifying needs and applications, the use of advanced simulations is indispensable to accelerating development and verifying ideas under difficult conditions for experimentation. In talent development, we place strong emphasis on providing practical learning opportunities to young researchers, including through frontline activities, sales functions, and overseas assignments, as well as hands-on R&D experience. At the same time, we are advancing the more sophisticated use of AI, data, and simulations to foster the next generation of researchers and further enhance the R&D productivity. Specialized training programs will also be further developed to support technology transfer.

By meeting the expectations of customers and society, balancing earnings growth with the creation of next-generation businesses, and building a virtuous cycle that connects diverse core technologies, we fulfill our responsibility to drive innovation, drawing on the strengths of a diversified chemical company.
We will continue to lead the way toward achieving KAITEKI.