Murata will accelerate technological innovation in order to ensure that we continue to create new value. We conduct development in-house, from materials to processes, production technology, product design, analysis, and evaluation. In doing so, we develop and accumulate our own fundamental technologies and are creating technology platforms that can be applied to new developments. The appropriate securing and accumulation of intellectual property is becoming increasingly important for maintaining and strengthening the competitiveness of companies. We protect and utilize newly created intellectual property by applying for and obtaining rights to it as patents, or by keeping it confidential as know-how, thereby securing further business advantages.