Brand Story
Create the labs that senses
Our brand slogan, "Create the labs that senses".
We would like to introduce our thoughts behind this slogan, along with the story of how this word was created.
Paul Gauguin Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
Where Do We Come From?
Who Are We?
Where Are We Going?
We are now living in the age of VUCA, where anything can happen unpredictably. Furthermore, with the spread of the COVID-19 and the rapid technological innovation of AI and IoT, the nature of labs is being questioned. At the same time, our mission and the value we provide are also changing day by day.
In this age of accelerating change and complexity in the world, we thought it necessary to reiterate and share our important "thoughts", "our role" and "vision".
"Where do we come from, who are we, and where are we going?" The title given to the painting by the French artist Paul Gauguin may be an important question that we must always keep thinking about.
Changing everything from the lab.
ORIENTAL GIKEN INC. started out in 1978 as a manufacturer of research equipment.
At that time, labs were a dimly lit, and often referred as "hard", "dirty", and "dangerous" workplaces.
New discoveries and inventions cannot be made in such an environment. First of all, we need to change the lab.
About half a century after our founding, our unchanging "purpose" is "to provide ideal research environments for every researcher.
An environment that stimulates the five senses, allows everyone to interact freely, and is
filled with the excitement of the prospect of something being generated. I believe that an environment where such a feeling can be obtained is what will create "inspiration".
If the lab changes, our future will change. Everything could be changed from the lab. That is what we believe.
The decline of science and technology
More than ever before, we hear the words "science phobia" and "lack of interest in Ph".
These are words that make us think. Furthermore, we hear that "Japan's science and technology are in decline. How long has it been since people started saying that?
As a "Science and Technology country", Japan aims to build a "Nation with Intellectual Presence" by promoting leading and creative academic research, but the reality is that the ideal research environment has not been sufficiently developed.
While the percentage of students entering universities has been consistently rising, the number of students entering doctoral programs, the "candidates" of advanced research talent, has been declining, and by 2019, it will be half of what it was at its peak in 2003.
While there are a lot of negative survey results like this, in a ranking of jobs that children want to be, "researcher" has been a regular in the top 10 for years, along with athletes and police officers.
Incidentally, in the 2020 edition of the survey, "YouTuber" was ranked in the top 10 for the first time.
In the next 10 to 20 years, there will be a variety of new professions that are unimaginable today, and on the other hand, there will be professions that will be eliminated due to the progress of technological innovation such as robotics and AI.
In every era, it is the researchers who lead the world. We believe that researchers will continue to increase their presence and remain a dream job, and that their research results will further enrich society. Hopefully, in the labs we have produced.
Love for labs
A laboratory is a place to challenge new possibilities. For many researchers, it is the place where they spend most of their time except home. They may even spend more time there than at home.
When I visit overseas research institutes that have published many great research results, I find that the balance between personal life (LIFE) and work (WORK), or rather the "boundaries" are blurred in a good sense, and everyone seems to be working vigorously on their research. There is a surfboard in the corridor and they go surf to refresh ourselves after lunch. How about coming to the office with your dog? While drinking a cup of great coffee at the bar counter, you talk with your colleagues about your research, families, and sometimes about silly things.
As it is the place where we spend most of our time, we should make the lab a place where we can love more. Shouldn't we change it into a space with more enthusiasm and playfulness?
As a result of the COVID-19, many companies are changing the way they work in labs, introducing remote work and rotational work. With the shift to online work and the decline in idea generation through incidental encounters and daily interactions in labs and offices, the question is, "What role should the real lab play and what kind of environment should it be in the future?" The answer to this question may not be so easy to come by.
Nevertheless, we believe that a lab that stimulates the senses, where everyone can interact freely, and where something is bound to be born, will bring about a moment of inspiration. We believe that such a lab will bring about a moment of inspiration.
Our aspirations since our founding. The social issues we must confront.
And the future we want to realize through our daily activities.
This is our brand slogan and statement after we have written, discussed, and thought
through.
Create the labs that senses
The lab should be crazier - we truly believe so.
Crazy is enthusiasm and playfulness.
"Science and technology in Japan is in decline."
Many years have passed since people started saying that.
A lab without surprise will not create innovation that surprises the world.
The place that stimulates the five senses more
The atmosphere where everyone can interact freely
and where there is a sense of something should happen.
The environment where people can immerse themselves
in research with excitement.
Our mission is to create "a moment of inspiration"
by providing such an environment to the researchers.
Everything can be changed from the lab - that's what we believe.