Canon global

Canon Europe has provided support to the Red Cross in Europe for many years through such activities as charity event sponsorship. Since confirming a partnership contract with the Red Cross in 2006, Canon Europe has broadened its support by actively cooperating with their support and education projects for young people.
In 2010, Canon supported programs such as the HIV/AIDS Campaign (Spanish Red Cross) and the Positive Images education program for young people victimized by poverty or immigrant prejudice (Brititsh Red Cross).
Canon provides additional support through donations of digital equipment and funds, as well as by providing personnel. We will continue to support the Red Cross in its efforts throughout Europe.

Canon has since 2007 partnered with the Kyoto Culture Association (NPO) on the "Tsuzuri Project" as a social contribution activity, seeking to preserve original cultural heritage while making use of high-resolution facsimiles of cultural artifacts. This project fuses Canon's latest digital technologies with traditional craftsmanship from Kyoto by creating high-resolution facsimiles nearly identical in appearance to the original artifacts. Canon displayed three high-resolution facsimiles at the Japan Pavilion Expo 2010 Shanghai China, including The Wind and Thunder Gods (National Treasure) folding screen. We also held the "Tsuzuri Project" Exhibition at Kyoto's Kenninji Temple. The 16 facsimiles created up to then were exhibited to the public in two stages, the first in November 2010 and then in March 2011, giving visitors a chance to experience brilliant works of Japanese art firsthand.

Canon has been developing a DNA diagnostic system in the United States that can contribute to the diagnosis of inherited diseases, as well as the analysis of drug side effects and efficacy.
Even the latest DNA diagnosis system takes at least tens of minutes to one day or longer to generate diagnostic results. The diagnostic system currently under development by Canon is equipped with technologies for amplifying and analyzing DNA, and is expected to remarlably reduce the time to result as well as simplify the operation.
Feasibility and usability study is performed with academia from 2010, and a prototype was installed at the University of Utah in the United States in November. Increasing the locations in 2012 for performance evaluation and expanding joint development of applications, we aim for commercialization in 2013.

Canon provided support for the customized postcard and stamp sheet printing services for Expo visitors offered by China Post at Expo 2010 Shanghai China. Visitors were able to create original postcards or stamp sheets displaying a photograph they had taken by themselves. The souvenir cards were printed out using Canon digital production printers.
Canon was also a sponsor of the Japan Pavilion at Expo 2010 in Shanghai, where we sought to assist in the staging of the pavilion by covering the walls with large-scale photos, output from an large-format inkjet printer, vividly depicting Japanese rural woodland scenes. We also exhibited future product concept models, such as a digital camera that automatically recognizes smiles.

Canon is participating in the Ink Cartridge Satogaeri^* (Homecoming) Project, a cooperative effort launched in April 2008 by six printer manufacturers and the Japan Post Group to collect used ink cartridges.
Part of this project includes donations, which began in April 2010, to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). UNEP conducts activities targeting such global environmental issues as global warming, climate change, threats to biodiversity, and the efficient use of resources. Through such indirect assistance to UNEP activities we hope to increase the social significance of the project and also contribute to a more active approach in global environmental protection.
The Ink Cartridge Satogaeri (Homecoming) Project's activities were featured at the Ink Cartridge Satogaeri (Homecoming) Project booth during the Interactive Fair for Biodiversity, which was held concurrently with the 10^th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) in Nagoya in October 2010. A presentation ceremony was held at which the UNEP representative received a check for ¥2 million, representing the donation for the first half of the year. The total for the one-year period from April 2010 through March 2011 was ¥4.3 million.