Dexerials' Employee Becomes First Employee from a Manufacturing Company to Receive "Three Category Gold Winner Award" at 2024 Patent Search Grand Prix

Corporate

2024.12.13

Dexerials Corporation (Headquarters: Shimotsuke-shi, Tochigi, Representative Director and President: Yoshihisa Shinya, hereinafter “Dexerials”) announces that, at the 2024 Patent Search Grand Prix*1 held on Saturday, September 7, 2024, its employee achieved gold certification in all selected fields of Chemistry/Pharmaceutical, Electrical, and Mechanical, becoming the first employee from a manufacturing company that is not a patent-related search firm or office*2 to receive the Three Category Gold Winner Award.

2024 Patent Search Grand Prix

Hosted by the Industrial Property Cooperation Center (IPCC), the Patent Search Grand Prix*3 is Japan’s only competition designed to assess practical skills for searching patents. Every year, employees from patent offices, patent search firms and the intellectual property divisions of other business corporations take part in the competition from all over Japan. Since joining Dexerials, Nobuyuki Suzuki, recipient of the Three Category Gold Winner Award, has worked in the intellectual property division, for the last five years, he has been in charge of operations such as patent clearance, IP landscape*4 and IP education. Suzuki has taken part in the competition in the past, receiving 2013 Patent Search Grand Prix Electricity Category Gold and 2019 Patent Search Grand Prix Chemistry/Pharmaceutical Category Gold. This year, he won 2024 Patent Search Grand Prix Mechanical Category Gold, becoming the first employee from a manufacturing company that is not a patent-related search firm or office to receive the Three Category Gold Winner Award.
On winning the three categories, Suzuki said “This is a great honor for me. I will not let it go to my head and intend to use patent information effectively to realize sustainable innovation.”

Dexerials sees intellectual property as an important management asset and uses IP landscape analysis in the creation of new business and business evaluation. Through more aggressive investment in IP education and a new incentive program, Dexerials will link its material issues of “Technology” and “Human Capital”, and will seek to strengthen the business model that is the engine of sustainable growth. Dexerials will continue accelerating initiatives for “Technology” and “Human Capital” and providing high value-added products, technologies, and solutions, which are essential for the evolution of digital technologies that help solve social issues, aiming to contribute to building a sustainable society, achieve sustainable growth, and enhance its corporate value.

  • *1: 2024 Patent Search Grand Prix Event Information (JP)
  • *2: The winners of the Three Category Gold Winner Award at past competitions (two winners) and as well as the other winners of the award at this competition (two winners) all belong to patent-related search firms. Suzuki is the first winner from a corporation that is not patent-related.
  • *3: Patent Search Grand Prix (JP)
  • *4: A method of strategically analyzing and visualizing intellectual property information and using that insight in management judgments and R&D strategy.

Overview of Patent Search Grand Prix

The Patent Search Grand Prix is Japan’s only competition designed to assess practical skills for searching patents. The competition has been hosted by Industrial Property Cooperation Center (IPCC) since 2013, and is growing in scale year by year.
This competition is made up of two parts: the Patent Search Grand Prix, which is in an exam format, and the Patent Search Skills Improvement Seminar, in which the questions asked in the exam are explained. Participants that score above a certain level in the exam are issued with various types of certificate and winners of the top award, a gold certificate, are presented with their certificates in an awards ceremony. This fiscal year, 174 people took the exam in person and 132 people took the exam online.

Starting Point of Practical Skills Improvement Cycle (= Aim of Competition)Starting Point of Practical Skills Improvement Cycle (= Aim of Competition)
(Source:Patent Search Grand Prix Official Site > What is the Patent Search Grand Prix? (JP))

Message

Legal and Intellectual Property Department IP Section 2
Assistant Manager : Tomoyuki Suzuki

I am truly honored to have received the Three Category Gold Winner Award in this competition. I will not let this go to my head, and intend to use patent information effectively to achieve sustainable innovation.
Going forward, I will build on the knowledge and experience gained through this competition and continue taking on further challenges to increase my expertise. I also intend to actively incorporate and use the latest technologies such as generative AI to search patents and understand market trends more efficiently and to contribute to industrial development.

Tomoyuki Suzuki