Message from the Vice President & CTO
Message from the Vice President & CTO (1/2)
Canon's strengths are the key to creating a new world of imaging
Two of Canon's major pillars of technology to date have been optical technology and precision technology. These technologies, fostered through the development of cameras and other products, have been applied to semiconductor exposure equipment, providing a typical example of products that symbolize the company's spirit of innovation.
In the field of information technology as well, Canon possesses advanced technologies in such areas as LSI design and image processing.
At the same time, Canon is also highly regarded for its ability to create products that combine and integrate technologies. For example, the company's efforts in the field of electrophotography have led to the introduction of a host of copiers and printers that use static electricity, earning Canon an excellent reputation worldwide. Surprisingly, no technology capable of perfectly controlling static electricity has been established since Benjamin Franklin identified it some 250 years ago. Many years of experience and the accumulation of know-how have enabled Canon to put this volatile natural phenomenon to practical use. The same holds true for Canon's inkjet printing technology.
In other words, Canon's technical prowess has undergone stunning growth and development by taking in-the-field experience and using it to integrate and merge optics, precision technologies, and related fields to advance them to increasingly higher levels.
This is truly the essence of practical ability achieved through the fusion of technology and skill. From the perspective of practical ability, a system that emphasizes production through cell production, automation, and the in-house manufacture of key devices is just another of Canon's strengths.
Products such as toner and ink are the crystallization of materials technology, and today’s driving force behind the company's growth.
To develop Canon's technical prowess in these and other fields in the future, we will continue bolstering our advanced technical strengths.
Moreover, in line with the cross-media imaging strategy that we unveiled in 2005 as a new direction for technical development, the company will strive to open a broad new field of imaging possibilities while expanding current fields of activity and making the most of our existing technological strengths.
How will cross-media imaging evolve?
One of the most important challenges we must overcome is how to utilize the new world of imaging to benefit mankind and as a means of enriching social life.
For example, one area of pursuit that comes to mind for the new imaging domain is healthcare.
Canon is currently collaborating with Kyoto University to develop technologies that enable peering deeper into the human body than normal vision allows.
In the case of disorders such as cancer or vascular disease, exposing the human body to ultrasonic waves, light flux, magnet fields and other energy fields can be used to clearly identify affected areas by interaction effect, and acquire information for diagnoses. This provides an opportunity for Canon's advanced imaging solutions to be put to effective use in the field of medical imaging.
Development of cross-media imaging expands future potential
CMOS sensor technology and image-processing technology, just some of the cutting-edge fundamental technologies shared among Canon products, represent the foundation of the company's imaging capabilities. We will strive to extend these technologies into wider fields through cross-media imaging, which offers the potential for the creation of entirely new fields.
Robotics, for example, a field that has attracted considerable attention, is one area that could benefit from Canon's precision technologies. There is also strong demand for sensing and control technologies, and their integration with imaging technologies. And one of the major themes here is super machine vision. This refers to efforts to further expand the potential of human visual perception, which is said to account for 75% of human perception, incorporating advanced functionality to enable future-oriented imaging technologies. Such technologies as the 50-million pixel CMOS sensor, achieved through Canon's device technology, and MR technology will contribute significantly to these efforts. In addition, the exploration of the cosmos, made possible by the Subaru telescope, is another field under consideration.
Research and development efforts in the field of futureoriented imaging encompass not only imaging for light waves beyond the visible wavelength spectrum, but also imaging capable of making use of all senses, including taste, hearing, and smell. As such, I believe that we need to further expand the scope of our fundamental research to also include brain functions.
