Contribution: Memories of My Tenure as CTO
Since joining Valqua as an executive officer in charge of development ofproducts and merchandise in November 2003, I have been working here foras long as 15 years including the last couple of years as a technical adviser.
During my 15-year career at Valqua, I worked as CTO for 4.5 years fromApril 2010. Dr. Igarashi, my predecessor, has a broad knowledge and insightin chemistry ranging from basic to applied chemistry. I am grateful for all hisadvice during my CTO days. Since I was focused on practical techniques, his advice was invaluable.
As his style as CTO was easygoing, I felt huge pressure when I was appointed as CTO. That was
the first time I truly realized and admired his elegant business style as CTO.
One of my most impressive memories is my first business trip to the Nara Office on my firstworking day at Valqua. The president at that time asked Mr. Joya, a managing director, to show mearound the office. I also had a chance to give a‘policy’speech in front of all the staff of the office. Iremember that I emphasized how R&D should contribute to company earnings. These days, theidea that company R&D should contribute to company earnings has become common, but at thatapproach was like that of public-sector research institutions. This situation was not limited toValqua; many companies had the same idea. So, when I emphasized profit-oriented R&D in my firstpolicy speech, the researchers were reluctant to accept it. My idea was too audacious at that time.
Meanwhile, the business trip was just one day, and I remember it well. Because the Nara Office islocated in the countryside, I had to change trains at Kyoto to the Kintetsu Line to get to the Nara
Office（it’s quicker to visit Shanghai！）. Thereafter, during my tenure as CTO, I visited Nara manytimes, but unfortunately I have never visited the area near the office other than Kashiharajinguu. I
hope to have the chance to travel there again.
In R&D, the creation and utilization of human networks are important along with personneltraining. Especially, in China, close cooperation with academics is indispensable in research anddevelopment. At that time, I had conducted joint studies with universities in Japan and Westerncountries, but not with Chinese academics. In Japan, there was much discussion as to the roles ofresearchers at public institutions including universities in terms of contributing to society. So, wecame to stipulate very specific results for the joint studies in advance. In contrast, there was nosuch discussion in China. When we explained the expected results to Chinese academics and tried
to set goals for an R&D program, they balked. This made me realize that we need to seriously
consider social and cultural backgrounds.
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time, it was considered that R&D should be pursued with a medium- to long-term vision. ThisNo.32

Recently, widely-applicable technological seeds are increasingly likely to come from totally different
fields than in the past. So, it is important for us to open the door for research and to deepen
communication with other companies and other R&D institutions. This gives researchers a global
perspective which allows research institutions to continue evolving into organizations which cancreate great value. Such a pursuit of continuous evolution is our never-ending challenge.
NIPPON VALQUA INDUSTRIES, LTD. former CTO

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Hiroyuki Kuroda