Murata's Educational Activities in the STEAM Field to Develop Future Innovators

In recent years in Japan, children are becoming less interested in science, while there is also a general shortage of people to fill IT roles. With these issues in mind, Murata is engaging in STEAM-related educational activities as a leading monozukuri company in the electronics industry. Through these activities, we are looking to share the appeal of science and technology with the children who will lead the future and to develop the human resources who will create innovation in the future.

STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Liberal Arts, and Mathematics) education is an approach in which education focusing on creativity is combined with education focusing on science and mathematics.

Murata began getting actively involved in STEAM-related educational activities in 2006 using a school visit approach. We hold school visits mainly in areas where Murata has locations with a focus on three major types of lessons.

Murata business sites conduct approximately 100 school visits each year, primarily to local schools. One notable impact of these visits is that many children develop an interest in the sciences as a result of their encounters and discoveries during these interactions. Some have pursued science studies at university, and a few have even gone on to work at Murata!

Serving as instructors during these lessons are Murata volunteers from various departments with a wide range of ages. In addition to being a means of giving back to local communities, interacting with children serves as an opportunity for employees to become more motivated and to think about the work they do.

In addition to the standard career education, environmental education and programming education lessons, each business site provides lessons based on requests received from nearby schools, science museums, and other learning facilities

Tohoku Murata Manufacturing's battery workshop, Tokyo Branch's electronics workshop, and Kanazawa Murata Manufacturing's microscope workshop are examples of the unique lessons we have provided that incorporate the characteristics and core products of each business site.

Our business sites in various countries around the world are now also making school visits.

During environmental education school visits in China, children are provided with the opportunity to operate hand-cranked generators to learn about topics such as electrical energy, the characteristics of capacitors, and the principle of energy conversion. They also learn about the social issue of global warming.

Moreover, in addition to visiting schools, we also provide classes at places where children with a wide range of ages gather, including science shows held in the United States.

In addition to school visits, we are involved in STEAM-related educational activities in various ways.

In December 2020, we opened Mulabo! in the Murata Manufacturing Minato MIRAI Innovation Center (Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture). This is a science experience facility for children which provides visitors with a means to experience the mystery and fun of science all year round. The facility features exhibits and events teaching the basics of science and electricity under the theme of “visible science.”

Furthermore, in January 2022, we launched the Discover Denshi-land! website. This online "theme park" allows children to have fun learning about electronic components. This website describes the characteristics of electronic components and explains how these components are used in society in a manner that is both easy to understand and fun for children. The goal of the site is to get children interested in science and technology.

Going forward, Murata will remain committed to helping educate the next generation of innovators by providing STEAM-related educational activities.