August 08, 2005

R&D Company Established in Shanghai - Scheduled to open in October 2006

On 8th August, Omron established a new R&D company, “Omron Institute of Sensing & Control Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.” (internal abbreviation: ORS) in Shanghai Zizhu Science-Based Industrial Park, Shanghai, China. Construction work will begin in November 2005, and the opening is planned for October, 2006.

Up until now, product development units for business companies have been set up in China, however this is the first time that a company dedicated to core research has been established.

Staff at ORS will be engaged primarily in research and development into the latest sensing and control technologies. In particular, they will focus on R&D and into facial recognition technology and vision sensing technologies that can identify various objects’ shape and condition. At first, approximately 100 researchers will be assigned to research around 30 themes. It is planned that both the number of researchers and research themes will double by the end of fiscal 2007.

ORS is to be positioned as a forum for “collaborative innovation” in China. Every year over a hundred thousand Chinese students return home from US, European and Japanese educational institutions where they have studied cutting-edge technologies. Adjacent to Shanghai Jiaotong University and boasting excellent research and educational facilities, Shanghai Zizhu Science-based Technology Park is located in an area that is especially attractive for these highly-skilled returnee graduate students and researchers. ORS aims to capitalize on the advantages of its location and offer a space for collaborative innovation, where university professors, graduate students, researchers and other promising individuals can come together and interact with Omron researchers. In this way, we aim to strengthen our advanced sensing and control competencies even further and develop new technological breakthroughs.

Overview of New R&D Company 1. Name: Omron Institute of Sensing & Control Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 2. Location: 468 Jianchuan Rd. Shanghai 201109 3. Capital: 1.4 million US dollars 4. Description of business: R&D into advanced sensing and control technologies 5. Representatives:   Board Chairman Koichi Imanaka Board Member Yasuhira Minagawa Board Member Hisashi Shonaka President Toshio Yamashita 6. Participating researchers and engineers: Approx. 100 7. Construction schedule: November 2005 to September 2006 8. Start of operation: October 2006 9. Floor space: Land 20,000 ㎡, Building 5,000 ㎡, Total floor area 12,000 ㎡ 10. Structure: Reinforced concrete, 3 floors high 11. Total investment: 9.7 million US dollars (including real estate, building, infrastructure)