Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) opened in Brno, Czech Republic, its first Research and Development (R&D) centre in Europe. It will focus on product development in the field of data automation, digital work environment, 3D printing systems and wearable electronics. Czech IT specialists and researchers have the opportunity to be a part of the development of a new generation of products for customers around the world.

This is the second investment after the company established the first Client Briefing Centre of Konica Minolta Business Innovation Centre (BIC) in Brno in March. Its goal is to seek business opportunities, collect ideas and customer demands and develop new business models. The R&D centre will be responsible for the technological development and implementation of innovative products and solutions, based on the insights given from the Business Innovation Centre. Both centres in Brno plan to hire more than 100 IT experts within the next few years. 

“Given its favourable combination of a pool of qualified IT experts and research and development institutions, Brno metropolitan area has become a strategic location in Europe for Konica Minolta”, says Dennis Curry, Vice President & Director, Business Innovation and R&D Europe. “The establishment of the Client Briefing Centre of Business Innovation Centre in March this year was a first part of our innovation ecosystem. It focuses on customers, business partners and customer modifications excellence, while the R&D centre complements with technological and research excellence. The new generation of products, which will be developed by our Czech specialists, will be a part of the portfolio we offer globally.“

The R&D team in Brno will be responsible for Smart Systems research and development area. It incorporates development of intelligent sensor systems, solutions for data automation, data semantic understanding and the digital workspace automatisation. The wider European R&D team will also focus on research of 3D printing devices and systems, wearable technology and new medical devices.

“With our new technologies we want to help our customers to save time, reduce costs and simplify the management of all data, information and processes in today’s office and industrial environment”, said Matej Dusik, R&D Strategy and Technology Manager at Konica Minolta R&D centre in Brno.

The R&D centre in Brno is the first established in Europe and one of the three existing centres worldwide. The first one is in Tokyo, Japan, and the second one in San Francisco (San Mateo), USA. The team in Brno will be managed directly by R&D Management based in London and will work closely with Konica Minolta Business Solutions in the Czech Republic as well as the whole European network of innovation labs. The establishment of the Brno R&D centre is the first step in the wider global corporate R&D strategy. The next centre will be opened in Munich focusing on healthcare technologies. Further R&D centres are planned in London and Berlin.= 

The establishment of worldwide R&D centres and Business Innovation Centres is a part of Konica Minolta’s strategy to support the company’s transformation from a hardware supplier to a business solutions provider offering innovative products and services. Konica Minolta is making serious investments globally to expand its ICT services portfolio as well as existing technology focus areas.

Norihisa Takayama, Tomáš Bednář, Kunihiro Koshizuka, Dennis Curry (from left to right)

About Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe GmbH, based in Langenhagen, Germany, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Konica Minolta Inc., Tokyo, Japan, forming part of its Business Technologies business area. As a leading global services provider in the field of IT- and document processes as well as digital production printing solutions the company excels in services-led business consulting, implementation and management and provides a range of world-leading printing systems and solutions. In this context, Konica Minolta’s Optimized Print Services concept (OPS) combines consultancy, hardware, software implementation, and operation in order to enhance business process efficiency and cost-effectiveness. To support customers optimally with powerful and sustainable solutions, technology leader Konica Minolta continuously invests in research and development work and regularly sets new standards.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe is represented by subsidiaries and distributors in more than 70 countries in Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa. With over 33,000 employees around the world (as of March 2015), Konica Minolta’s Business Technologies business area earned net sales of over EUR 5.8 billion in financial year 2014/15.

For further information about the company, please visit: www.konicaminolta.eu.

Product images are available at: www.konicaminolta-images.eu.

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