SYNERGYCA Creation Lounge opened in 2021 at Sumitomo Chemical’s new Head Office.
It’s a place where people from industry, government, and academia gather to co-create new technology-based value.
SYNERGYCA, a space for interaction and discussion, to generate ideas leading to creation of new value. The lounge features the latest digital technology to facilitate the lively exchange of ideas.
Young employees of Sumitomo Chemical led the development of the concept and layout of the new Head Office in Nihonbashi, with “INNOVATION REACTOR—Exciting Workplace” as their theme.
In Nihonbashi, Tokyo, there is a space where people from different business and research areas are gathering in active discussion sessions. It’s SYNERGYCA Creation Lounge, in Sumitomo Chemical’s Head Office. SYNERGYCA was opened in December 2021, its name being a combination of “synergy” and the Japanese word for “chemistry,” and its theme “Let us talk about changing the world with the power of chemistry: Chemistry for Innovation.”
Dr. Carlos Knapp, SYNERGYCA Creation Lounge Director, explains what prompted the company to set up SYNERGYCA when relocating its head office. “Metaphorically speaking, the idea was to set o a series of chemical reactions, between social and business challenges and Sumitomo Chemical’s latest technologies, leading to creation of new value. SYNERGYCA is all about ideas and inspiration.” Starting with an in-house workshop, many people from outside the company participated in the project, including renowned product designer Ms. Fumie Shibata and Kokuyo Co., Ltd. for space planning, and designers and creators for planning and production of videos and other digital content. “Seizing the opportunity presented by the head office relocation, everything, from the layout of the lounge to the production of digital contents, was done in a flat, collaborative manner, involving internal and external resources. Creating this co-creation tool was itself a major co-creation project,” says Dr. Knapp.
The lounge is in the new Head Office building. Once inside, I note the lab-like atmosphere of the lounge with its austere concrete floors and bare ceilings. What’s that faint scent? It’s Airnote, Sumitomo Chemical’s Liquid Ion atomizer. And the muted background music? It’s continually created by an automatic music generator using some 200 sounds. This purpose-built space is doing what it’s intended to do. My senses are stimulated. I feel more flexible and receptive to new ideas. I proceed through three areas: “Get Together,” “Experiencing,” and “Interacting.” The “Get Together” area is ideal for icebreaking. In a curtained-off circular space, people introduce themselves and chat with one another.
In the “Experiencing” area, assisted by the latest digital and virtual reality (VR) technology, I take a deep dive into Sumitomo Chemical Group. “This projection presents the history of Sumitomo Chemical. VR is used to introduce our business,” explains Dr. Knapp. “Via touch panels, visitors ‘experience’ products and core technologies, such as anti-malaria mosquito nets recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and chemically recyclable acrylic resin. But, above all, the ‘Experiencing’ area is focused on triggering co-creation, the first step toward new possibilities.”
In the “Interacting” area, participants share the issues confronting contemporary society and explore mutual interests, pooling ideas in search of solutions. The topics on the agenda go beyond chemistry-related areas to include carbon neutrality and digital transformation (DX), amongst others. Participants come from diverse walks of life. Here you will encounter all sorts of people—business people, academics, government officials, and so forth.
Groups typically consist of six to ten people, but the space can accommodate groups of as many as 20 people, and the layout is flexible. Each program is designed individually, considering what’s best to encourage proactive participation leading to lively, fruitful discussion.
A noteworthy feature is the use of professional facilitators and recorders for many sessions, which is a novel approach in Japan. A facilitator, having discussed with the organizer in advance to determine what kind of outputs are aimed at, constructs the framework. During the session, the ideas and opinions of all participants are elicited and the discussion is visualized by posting them on the screen using digital sticky notes. By finding relationships between ideas and grouping them, and by eliciting further opinions, a high-quality discussion can take place in a short period of time, even in the first interaction. As soon as the session is over, the discussions and records organized on the screen are turned into PDFs and distributed to the participants. Since neither online nor in-person participants need to take notes, everyone can focus on the discussion. Encouraged to broaden their thinking through brainstorming, after a session participants typically leave the lounge with a spring in their step, re-entering the world with a head buzzing with new insights and ideas.
All Sumitomo Chemical Group employees can use SYNERGYCA and they can invite people from outside the company, if they make a reservation. Site visits are also welcomed. Last year the lounge had some 2,300 visitors. This year, with an occupancy rate of over 80%, the lounge has become so popular that it is difficult to make reservations even a month in advance. “Though digital content and other technologies are powerful tools, the human element remains overwhelmingly key at SYNERGYCA. By ‘getting together’ and ‘experiencing,’ people can deepen their understanding of Sumitomo Chemical and collaborate through ‘interacting.’ We aim to be an innovation hub,” says Dr. Knapp.
Already 70% of the sessions at SYNERGYCA have led to a further round of discussion or action. This unusual venue has a fresh atmosphere compared to the typical meeting room. It stimulates ideas and inspires. The latest digital technology can be a catalyst, animating discussion. The ultimate goal of SYNERGYCA is to transform ideas into everyday reality, creating new value for people everywhere.
At SYNERGYCA’s “Experiencing” area, I plunged into virtual reality for the very first time. Wearing a pair of virtual reality goggles, off I went on a tour of seven Sumitomo Chemical Group sites in Japan and overseas, starting with Niihama where the Sumitomo Chemical started. The eight-minute dynamic 360-degree video was very realistic and I didn’t experience even a hint of VR sickness. The video took me on a magic carpet ride to a series of Sumitomo Chemical locations, each unique in its own way. Very few company persons will have visited all these sites in person. It was a fascinating mosaic of diverse workplaces spanning the globe.
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