Tokyo, October 16, 2025 – NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) has been selected for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s open innovation promotion program (Tokyo Cross Lab; *1) "Public Invitation for Large Enterprises Owning R&D Facilities." This program aims to promote open innovation by matching companies that own research and development equipment and instruments with startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that wish to use such equipment to advance their R&D, thereby supporting collaboration between both parties. Through Tokyo Cross Lab, NEC will accelerate new business development in partnership with startups and SMEs and work to create social value.

Facilities owned by NEC Abiko Plant

Program Overview

At NEC Abiko Plant (Abiko City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan), which was selected for the program, NEC has facilities that enable an end-to-end process for synthesizing, molding, and evaluating plastic materials, and has experience in R&D in sustainability and materials, including environmentally friendly materials and materials informatics (MI) utilizing AI. NEC has advanced R&D on bioplastics as environmentally friendly materials, and has pursued commercialization of NeCycle®, a cellulose-based high-performance biomaterial (*2). In recent years, NEC has focused on leveraging MI and supporting digital transformation (DX) to strengthen the global development competitiveness of materials manufacturers (*3), and on developing MI technologies aimed at improving the efficiency of manufacturing recycled plastic—a key challenge for plastic recyclers (*4).

Under this program, NEC will collaborate with startups and SMEs that can utilize these facilities and expertise, aiming to solve social issues and create new value by combining NEC’s R&D capabilities and business foundation with the technologies and ideas of startups. Following matching support to be conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in the second half of 2025, NEC will begin providing access to facilities and exploring collaboration from April 2026.

Under the key message "The future is ours to shape," NEC drives Open Innovation in new business development through diverse co-creation with startups and partner companies (*5). By combining cutting-edge technologies with cross-sector collaboration, we continue to generate new social value and shape the future.

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About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation has established itself as a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies while promoting the brand statement of “Orchestrating a brighter world.” NEC enables businesses and communities to adapt to rapid changes taking place in both society and the market as it provides for the social values of safety, security, fairness and efficiency to promote a more sustainable world where everyone has the chance to reach their full potential. For more information, visit NEC at https://www.nec.com.