Showa Denko and IBM Japan, Ltd. have jointly developed a 'Patent Interpretation Support System,' which helps engineers to conduct a more effective and efficient screening of patent information. SDK will utilize this system company-wide from July, aiming to reduce the time its engineers must spend on the comprehension and interpretation of patent information.
The Patent Interpretation Support System adopted IBM Watson Explorer, a cognitive technology which can gather information from documents integrally and cross-sectionally, and classify and analyze the information in a sophisticated manner. IBM Watson Explorer has powerful functionality to search and analyze texts, associate documents, and abstract ideas with a focus on patents. SDK, for its part, has technical expertise and a rich experience in research and handling of chemistry-related patent documents. By making the most of this expertise and experience, SDK and IBM Japan have successfully enabled an AI-based System which analyzes and associates documents in a way specialized for chemistry-related patent documents, and equipped the System with a user interface that gives high readability to patent documents written in Japanese. Thus the new System supports engineers' work to comprehend and interpret patent related documents in an effective and efficient manner.
In its medium term business plan The TOP 2021, launched in January 2019, the Showa Denko Group prepares a plan aimed at "the utilization of AI/IoT related technologies," and strengthening the Group's business foundation. The Group will accelerate the visualization and formalization of technical know-how and processes it has accumulated over many years of operation, utilizing this experience to enhance corporate value.