Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining Ajinomoto's IR Day, despite your busy schedule. My name is Kaji from the IR Group. I will be the moderator today. First, let me introduce who's here. Director, Representative, Executive Officer, President, Mr. Fujie. Director, Representative, Executive Officer, and Executive Vice President, Shiragami. Director, Executive Officer, and Senior Vice President, General Manager, Corporate Division, Sasaki.
Hello, nice to meet you.
Director, Chair of the Board, Iwata.
This is Iwata speaking.
Thank you. Director, Chair of the Nomination Committee, Nakayama.
This is Nakayama. Hello.
Executive Officer and Vice President in charge of Finance and Investor Relations, Mizutani.
This is Mizutani.
Executive Officer and Vice President in charge of Sustainability and Communications, Morishima.
This is Morishima. Hello.
General Manager, Intellectual Property Department, Izui . Intellectual Property Department, Tarumi. This is Tarumi. So we have nine people with us today.
So today's program is comprised of four parts. First, part one will be from our President, Mr. Fujie, opening remarks. Part two will be a dialogue between our Outside Director s, Iwata and Nakayama, who will be talking about evolution of governance to enhance corporate value. Part three from Mr. Izui, the GM of the Intellectual Properties Department, will be delivering a speech presentation regarding enhancing corporate value through the Ajinomoto Group's intellectual property strategy. Part four will be a Q&A session covering all the sessions. We are planning to have a session over the next 90 minutes. The materials are available on the IR section of Ajinomoto's website. Please take a look if you would like to refer to the materials. The session will be recorded and including the Q&A session.
On a later date, it will be uploaded to our IR site. Now we would like to get started. Over to Mr. Fujie.
Ladies and gentlemen, nice to speak to you. This is Fujie speaking. Thank you very much for your support on a day-to-day basis, and despite your busy schedule, thank you very much for joining our IR Day event. Today, I'd like to give some opening remarks on this IR day to deliver my messages. There are three points that I'd like to raise. Number one, as we already announced regarding the 2030 Roadmap, after the announcement, the entire management and employees are working together to make progress towards the achievement of 2030 Roadmap. In order to make progress, governance needs to evolve itself, and we need to enhance our intangible assets as well. In terms of intangible assets, there are two points.
Well, in terms of the enhancement of governance as well as intangible assets, number two, I'd like to, a s for the governance, regarding the effectiveness of BOD, we are once again revisiting the definition of the effectiveness of BOD, and there are three major points. Number one is to set a broader direction, and number two is to encourage risk-taking and execution, and number three is to supervise the executive side. Those are the three roles associated with the BOD, and the BOD Chair, Iwata-san, as well as Nakayama-san, are going to have a dialogue session today. Regarding number three, as for intangible asset enhancement, our topic today focuses on patent rights as well as trademark rights, and we'd like to outline our IP strategy, intellectual property strategy.
In 1908, w ell, we were incepted in 1909, and Dr. Ikeda Kikunae actually obtained his first patent, and he was designated as a very important inventor. This is how we accumulated our inventions and IP-related patents as well as trademarks to create and secure our economic profits. Let me quickly introduce. In the 21st century and onwards, Ajinomoto as well as MSG-related accumulated business profit topped JPY 400 billion. Those are the total profit that we have generated, or business profit we have generated. Since inception, our patent as well as trademark-related IP has contributed significantly in terms of generating our profits, and this creates and secure our entry barriers and competitive edge. We'd like to ensure the shift to growth through BMX, and that is a key point that I'd like to deliver today. Those are the three topics that I'd like to raise.
On page nine, on August 31st, as we already externally communicated, ASV Report has been published, both in Japanese as well as English. At the end of October, we are going to distribute the pamphlets or leaflets for your perusal. Now we'd like to pass the baton to the presenters for today.
Thank you, Fujie-san. Now we would like to move on to part two, which is a dialogue around evolution of governance to enhance corporate value. Iwata-san, Nakayama-san, welcome.
From here on, we will have a discussion with Iwata-san and Nakayama-san, who are our Outside Director s, regarding the themes that are shown here. I am Goto from Investor Relations, and I will be the moderator.
Hello.
Hello.
So first and foremost, I'd like to introduce the speakers that we have with us today. First is Kimie Iwata. She has worked for the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for about, and has been involved with corporate management as Outside Director at a number of companies for 20 years in total. By leveraging her experience in corporate management, she's been appointed as Outside Director at our company from 2019, and from fiscal 2021, has been serving as Chair of the Board and member of the Nominating and Compensation Committees. Next is George Nakayama. He has served as a president and chairman at a global healthcare company, and is serving as an Outside Director since 2021. He is the chair of the Nominating Committee this year, and also is serving on the Compensation and Audit Committees. Iwata-san, Nakayama-san, thank you for both coming today.
Thank you.
Now, let's start off with the first theme. I'd like to hear your thoughts of what is required of a Board of Directors and what its role is to enhance corporate value. In the evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors last year, the Ajinomoto Group discussed and defined the effectiveness of the Board of Directors in the company. The degree to which the Board of Directors is able to properly fulfill its purposes, discussing and examining key management matters that significantly affect corporate value, encouraging risk-taking and execution by indicating major directions, verifying the validity of execution processes and outcomes, and appropriately supervising execution. What exactly do you mean by the three points of indicating major directions, encouraging risk-taking and execution, and appropriately supervising execution?
I will talk about those three one by one. So regarding the first point, in conducting this year's evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board of Directors, we took a renewed look and defined what we mean by the effectiveness of the Board of Directors in terms of three points you just mentioned. So we look at seven important management issues, which are corporate value, capital policy, balance sheet optimization, decision-making processes, medium-term management plan, restructuring of the business portfolio, large-scale M&A, and large-scale investments. So when we say indicating major direction, this refers to important management issues that have a major impact on corporate value, and to discuss the direction of these important management issues from a medium- to long-term perspective at the Board.
And we had an organizational change 2 years ago, and when we did so, the Board substantially transferred to the executive side the authority so that the executive side, where execution could happen in a speedy way. So regarding these important items, the Board was able to indicate a major direction. So regarding these 7 management items, throughout the year, at least once a year, each of the seven important management items are taken up and deliberating. And I believe that the accumulation of deliberations to date has led to the formulation of the 2030 Roadmap. Regarding the second item, encouraging risk-taking and execution. In order to improve corporate value over the medium to long term, it's necessary for the executive side to clarify risks and take appropriate risks.
The Board should indicate in advance the major direction of management, which in itself creates an environment that facilitates risk-taking on the part of the execution side. The 2030 Roadmap sets forth very challenging targets, and I believe that the executive side is required to take considerable risk in order to achieve these indicators. In the process of supervising the implementation and deepening of the 2030 Roadmap, the Board would like to encourage specific risk-taking on the part of the execution side, if necessary. The third point, appropriate supervision of execution. Regarding this item, this refers to checking the appropriateness of the execution process and results.
From this year, the execution side, when it comes to the way management is done, major changes are poised to happen, meaning, to form a vision from a long-term perspective, backcasting from there to set challenging ASV indicators, and formulating a roadmap to get there, and also doing monthly rolling forecasts, and if necessary, making quick course adjustments where necessary. So that's the way we are trying to manage the business. The Board, we, we would like to focus on whether this new way of managing the company is going to go well or not. And of course, needless to say, in whatever times we are in, if there's anything, we would like to ensure that there is nothing that is going to undermine, this process, and we would like to-
We would like to ensure that no corporate value is undermined, and we will therefore focus on reports regarding internal control and in look at updates from the Business Conduct Committee regarding compliance and other matters. That's it from me. Thank you very much.
The company, I was able to understand, that the role has been clarified, based off the definition of the effectiveness of the Board. The company has transitioned to a company with a nominating committee from 2021. Nakayama-san, you're currently serving concurrently on the Nominating Compensation and Audit Committees. Can you share with us the role of each committee?
Yes, this is Nakayama, and I would like to give some flavor on that. First of all, the Nominating Committee, Nomination Committee evaluate and selected candidates for CEO, and we decided to select Mr. Fujie as the new CEO candidate. Each committee member interviewed several candidates and discussed and decided based on their own judgment. The committee plans to work on the fiscal 2022 evaluation of our CEO, Mr. Fujie, and Internal Director s. The development and evaluation of mid- to long-term Internal Director candidates, and the search for candidates for Outside Director s. For the Compensation Committee, we considered and decided on the validity of fiscal 2022 compensation for Internal Director s and executive officers. We will look at the consistency with the 2030 Roadmap going forward.
We will look at and consider a compensation system that enables the recruitment of global and diverse human resources and their active engagement, and we will establish a fair and simple compensation system that's consistent with the 2030 Roadmap. For the Audit Committee, it supervises business execution while closely partnering with internal audit and audit firms. In light of changes in the organizational design, new management structure and management measures, the committee is promoting activities to ensure legal and appropriate business execution and to ensure the enhancement of corporate value. When urgent matters are identified, information is promptly shared and discussed. We also place emphasis on cooperation with the corporate auditors of each group company.
The three committees engage in lively and in-depth discussions led by Outside Director s, and we believe that the division of roles between the three committees and the Board of Directors is appropriate. In addition, at the suggestion of Chairman Iwata, the number of committee members serving concurrently has been increased in order to share information among the committees, which I feel has been effective in deepening discussions in each committee.
Thank you for commenting on the three committees, Nakayama-san. Next, moving forward, regarding how we engage on how to create a highly effective Board of Directors. Iwata-san, you have been an Outside Director since 5 years ago, and in 2021, we had organizational designs, and you've experienced the changes. What do you think is necessary to improve the effectiveness of the Board, strengthening corporate governance and evolving ASV management after the changes in the organizational design?
Yes, I would like to talk about recent changes mainly then. In order to enhance effectiveness, I think there are three important factors. One is composition of the Board, meaning who participates in the Board. Secondly is agenda at the Board, what is discussed. Thirdly is the quality of discussions that take place in the Board, and how high we can elevate that level. Regarding the first point, composition of the Board, from this year, we have newly welcomed a new member. One of them is Mr. Scott Davis, which is a first non-Japanese director. He is an expert in sustainability and corporate governance.
We also have invited and welcomed Mr. Takeshi Saito. This person at many companies has been involved in the management of several companies, especially in harsh environments, so he is a management professional, and this person has joined us as an Internal Director from this year. So the Board has evolved in its diversity of its composition. Regarding number two, agenda, it's exactly as I've explained earlier, but based on the seven important management issues. In order to indicate a major future direction, we have deliberations at this, and we have an annual plan for the year, and along with the plan, we manage the Board
So we have been managing the Board in that way this year as well. Regarding the quality of discussions, well, it's obvious that all members participate in discussions and engage in a vigorous exchange of opinions. We are also taking on the challenge of improving the quality of the discussions, so we're attempting to do so. So specifically, we decide in advance what issues will be discussed for each agenda item and ask participants to prepare materials accordingly. And we follow this on the very day that discussions take place. Last year, the Chair, myself, and the secretariat consulted with one another to determine the issues to be discussed. Starting this year, the Liaison Committee with Outside Directors will consider what issues should be discussed. That is where we are, and in this way, the Board has been evolving.
Thank you very much. I was able to understand that by ensuring member diversity and agenda setting and clarifying discussion points, you are enhancing the quality of discussions. Nakayama-san, based on your experience as an Outside Director or as business management, could you please tell us how governance should be to support corporate value enhancement, and what you are particularly conscious of as an Outside Director ?
When I think about management and management issues, I separate short-term issues from long-term issues. How the way these issues differs from industry to industry, but in the pharmaceutical industry, where I used to work, long-term issues such as the progress of new drug pipeline had a greater impact on market valuation and stock prices than short-term issues. In the case of Ajinomoto, a timely price hike in response to cost increases sways earnings in the food business. Therefore, the ability to analyze and respond to situations in a timely manner, or in other words, marketing intelligence, makes a big difference in corporate valuation and stock price.
However, even if a company successfully responds to short-term issues, should the country's economy as a whole stalls, then the business growth in the country will hit the ceiling at some point. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the long-term portfolio of areas or geography and markets in parallel to decide, for example, which countries should we expand our business point foundation. For Ajinomoto to grow worldwide, it is essential to simultaneously address both short-term and long-term challenges. We believe that the executive side has excellent knowledge and judgment in dealing with short-term issues.
Therefore, as an Outside Director , I raise questions and confirm whether their actions are in line with the basic corporate philosophy and purpose, and whether they are appropriate in the light of compliance. To address long-term issues, 2030 Roadmap is at the crux of our response. We also need to add strategic elements to the deliberation, such as how to consider the long-term market portfolio of foods, for example. For that, we are proactively raising questions to stir debate with the executive side.
Thank you very much. Now, I'd like to ask you about what specific topics are being deliberated at the BOD meetings. We heard that the substance of the discussions has changed considerably, and that there is a lively exchange of ideas between the Internal and Outside Director s. So could you please tell us about how you are devising ways to deepen discussions at BOD?
Well, I already mentioned that discussion points are decided in advance, and we are also devising other ways to ensure active discussions, including small items. First, in terms of the frequency of our meetings and duration, for example, last year, BOD was convened 18 times, the Nominating Committee 10 times, the Compensation Committee 13 times, and Audit Committee 15 times. The duration of each meeting is usually 3 hours in the case of BOD. Because we are dealing with so many agenda items, for each agenda item, we allocate specific time for each agenda item, sometimes ranging from 5 minutes or 45 minutes, depending on the nature of an agenda item.
Starting from this year, for the first time, we decided to adopt the document-based briefing, and we omit those from agenda items in order to reduce the number of agenda items. In terms of the presentation materials, two years ago, we created a manual as to how to prepare BOD meetings materials. The executive side is fully informed and to be in line with the policy. From an Outside Director , it is. The documents are very easy to understand from an Outside Director s. In terms of the pre-sessions, every time we have the BOD, the agenda items are fully understood in these pre-arranged sessions that usually take a long time. This is where we are briefed in advance.
Those who are unable to make these pre-sessions, then the recording is distributed to promote their understanding, and also separately from these pre-sessions. The Outside Director s are provided sessions in order to deepen their understanding about Ajinomoto. We arrange or the company arranges study sessions quite frequently, and this is very proprietary to Ajinomoto. In terms of the attendees, well, in terms of the seating for BOD, the Chair as well as CEO, their seats are already fixed, but the other seats are not pre-arranged. The motto here is that, well, the Outside Director s tend to sit across Inside Directors or Internal Directors, but we would like to avoid a situation so that each member, all members can actually come together to have a free and invigorate their discussions.
The proponent of the agenda item may be the executive officer or general manager who is in charge. They may participate our sessions. Also, the chair of each committee presents materials for the respective committee. In these pre-arranged sessions, we already walked through those presentation materials. At the actual meeting, we don't need to double the effort to go through this presentation material, so we go straight into a QA session after the presenter attends these sessions. Usually, Outside Director s raise questions, and Internal Directors tend to answer those questions.
We used to have that structure, but we revisited the restructure because this structure. So because all directors are responsible for the entire company, we wanted to make sure that they, those, both Outside Director s and Internal Directors are on an equal footing by participating in a vigorous debate.
Thank you very much. Now, here, we'd like to show you a video clip of a BOD meeting to give you a sense of our discussions being taking place. We visited the BOD meeting in July and recorded the discussion over an agenda item and created this short video clip, which I'd like to show you now.
Video Presentation.
Iwata-san, could you please comment about the video clip?
Yes. Throughout the BOD, we set the agenda items throughout this year. That day, we spent about 40 minutes to discuss this item, but you created a very short summary of it. As you can see from the video, it is our basic policy to attend it, actually, in person, but someone could actually attend remotely. All members are participating in the discussion in a very relaxed manner, and they are actively involved in this open and honest debates.
Nakayama-san, what is your view?
Personally, I wanted to be a more talkative person, but overall, we don't actually pre-arrange discussions, and this was a very... This video demonstrates our true ability to freely discuss, agenda items.
Thank you very much for your feedback. Now, we'd like to move on to the next topic. Now, I'd like to ask of you about the specific theme discussed at the BOD last year. The paramount topic was the 2030 Roadmap under the midterm SV initiative. In preparation for the roadmap, how did you proceed with the discussion?
Let me first deal with your question. As I mentioned earlier, in 2021 through 2022, we spent the last two years. The major mid- to long-term perspective of the management direction has been the core issue of our debate, and this has culminated as the 2030 Roadmap, in my view. In addition, the past two years, the Sustainability Advisory Council, which is the subcommittee of the BOD, has delivered materiality issues, and these outcomes are incorporated into the roadmap as well. Last year, at BOD, we discussed the topics of roadmap from August 2022 to February 2023, and there were a total of five meetings of BOD.
As the discussion progressed, based on the executive sides, we accumulated our discussions as well. On this occasion, as the chair of BOD, I actually presented the agenda item, but as an outside director, I made my comments. In relation to this roadmap of 2030, the recent... My comments include the, the topic of environmental issues, and let me introduce some of them. With the goal of halving our environmental impact by 2030, we worked diligently on CO2 reduction and others, thanks to the executive side. But my concern is that the Scope 3, there are still room for improvement, and we may fall short of hitting the target in Scope 3. Although Scope 1 and 2, we are doing okay. So this is my concern, and I'd like to solicit the executive side's cooperation, collaboration.
As a company who depends on agricultural and marine products, Ajinomoto should be taking more unique approach to address biodiversity issues, and we need to actually tout this externally as well. Also, my comments on amino acids, which end up in our entire group business, green amino acids are being produced, and once they are produced, then it can be conducive to our entire society, and also it represents a huge business opportunity for our company. Therefore, green amino acids need to accelerate its pace in its R&D. That was my recent comment. In terms of global environmental issues, for any business, it poses risks but also opportunities for all companies.
Therefore, we hope that Ajinomoto learn best practices from other companies, not only from the domestic, other domestic food companies, but also from cutting-edge companies in other industries and across geography, in order to aim for a world-class entity in this specific item. That is my high expectation for Ajinomoto.
Nakayama-san, could you please comment?
I also participated in the discussions of SAC, and I also witnessed the discussions at BOD. At the SAC, I regard the content covered by the SAC are long-term issues to be addressed by the society as a whole. In a sense, they are long-term issues that we must fulfill as a member of society for the future. But at the same time, they are intertwined with the issues that Ajinomoto must face in order to further grow in the future social environment. With this in mind, or with these in mind, I mentioned that Ajinomoto should consider materiality should be based on the following two points. Number one, Ajinomoto's food business resides with the social infrastructure sector. And number two, Ajinomoto's AminoScience business involves bioscience and biotechnology.
So in these two aspects, Ajinomoto has a great potential in both social contribution and corporate growth. In food business, we are in a position to help extending a healthy lifespan through low-salt initiatives and remarkably improve production efficiency of our supply chain and agriculture, and they are already being executed. As for our bioscience R&D advent activities, throughout the evolution of life on this planet, Ajinomoto can has accumulated our know-how and can unleash its know-how in this aspect specific item. For example, plants use light and water to photosynthesize and convert CO2 to glucose in an efficient manner.
If our biotechnology can industrialize the photosynthesis, it may present an effective way to fight against global warming. So the word bio often conjures up products such as biopharmaceuticals. However, bioscience has a much greater opportunities for Ajinomoto, and I believe the company is one of the companies that can realize and unleash its great potential.
So thank you very much for high expectations for Ajinomoto. Finally, what are your current perceptions of the current state of affairs and expectations for Ajinomoto pertaining to achieving a sustainable growth in the future?
Speaking of the 2030 Roadmap. It stipulates challenging goals, and Fujie-san describes those goals as challenging as climbing Mount Everest, not Mount Fuji. So the targets are set very high, and the management approach itself, as I mentioned earlier, involves backcasting, roadmapping, and rolling forecasting. Those are the keywords of management approaches. They are very cutting edge, and the approach to themselves is very challenging as well. For the time being, we need to further evolve the roadmap, if necessary, and then we need to fulfill or achieve those roadmaps.
As a member of BOD, we need to make sure that we monitor the entire process, and we'd like to optimize ourselves as well through the process of trial and error. But we'd like to find an appropriate way to supervise the process. As my last comment, Fujie-san presides over the ASV management in earnest and shares the purpose with each and every one of our employees in order to contribute to the society, as well as the human race, mankind. Each and every personnel at Ajinomoto shares this view. At this point, if we remain steadfast in this regard, then I'm convinced that we'll be able to enhance our corporate value in terms of both economic and social value.
Therefore, ASV management itself represents the core, proprietary features of Ajinomoto, and this is where our Ajinomoto strength lies. Therefore, we'd like to aim higher in terms of Ajinomoto's management. That is my expectation.
To climb Mount Everest, each and every personnel or employee must first want to climb, feel that they want to climb the mountain, and then they believe that they can and make concrete preparations to do so. This is a vision envisaged by the 2030 Roadmap, and the milestones to be achieved by backcasting from the vision. I firmly believe that Ajinomoto can contribute to the whole world and grow further as an indispensable organization.
While dealing with short-term issues, we need to tirelessly progress towards long-term goals. In the food business, we need to rearrange our geopolitical, geographical market portfolio, reflecting the current geopolitical risks, and to do more on actively utilizing our group companies and accelerate diverse and global talent development and talent deployment. Those will be the key challenges going ahead.
Iwata-san, thank you very much. Nakayama-san, thank you very much for your contribution. Through this dialogue, I renewed my commitment to contributing to our group vision by with my colleagues as one of the employees. Thank you very much for all your participation. To those investors joining us online, I hope this session proves effective for deepening your understanding towards the effectiveness of BOD and governance, leading to corporate value enhancement. We'd like to solicit your continued support. With this, we'd like to conclude this dialogue session. Thank you very much.
Iwata-san, Nakayama-san, thank you very much. We'd like to now start part three: Enhancing corporate value through the Ajinomoto Group's intellectual property strategy. Izui-san, over to you.
Thank you for your introduction. I'm from the Intellectual Property Department. My name is Izui. I'd like to talk about enhancing corporate value through Ajinomoto Group's intellectual property strategy today. Next page, please. So what I want to talk about today is the three points. First point is strengthening the intellectual property that arises through organic connections among intangible assets is crucial to realizing ASV. And since its founding, the Ajinomoto Group has built up the strengths of its intellectual property strategy and has created competitive advantages and barriers to entry. It has done through the steady acquisition utilization of intellectual property in line with the development of its technologies and businesses. Thirdly, looking ahead to the realization of a 2030 Roadmap will involve our intellectual property strategy and strengthen its foundation in order to make a steady shift to grow through business model transformation.
By doing so, we will dramatically and continuously enhance our corporate value. So this is the agenda for today. I'll first talk about realization of ASV through the strengthening of intellectual property. Secondly, the strength of the Ajinomoto Group's intellectual property strategy and evolution of our intellectual property strategy to achieve our 2030 Roadmap, strengthening the foundation of our intellectual property, thirdly. And then lastly, strengthening the foundation of our intellectual property strategy. So first, is realization of ASV through the strengthening of IP. Like mentioned in the, h ere, intellectual property is a part of intangible assets, and we will reinforce our intellectual assets and maximize them so as to create ASV value.
Next page, please. You could see intangible assets on the left-hand side, t hey're comprised by organization, customers, and human resources, and technology, and the organic connection of intangible assets, as you can see on the right, create intellectual property, which includes patents, trademark rights, and expertise. The Ajinomoto Group's intellectual property strategy has strengths centered on patent and trademark rights that lead to maximization of competitive advantage and the barriers of entry. Through these, we have enhanced corporate value. Today's topic is about the realization of corporate value enhancement through an intellectual property strategy centered on patent rights and trademark rights. Next page, please. So this is chapter two, The Strength of Ajinomoto Group's IP Strategy.
Next page, please. The Ajinomoto Group has put importance on intellectual property since its founding. As you can see in red, with a great ambition and wish to improve nutrition for people in Japan through umami, the scientist, Dr. Ikeda discovered umami, and the businessman, Mr. Suzuki, launched a product, Ajinomoto, and we were able to realize the concept of Eat Well Live Well, which was how our company was founded. Back then, Dr. Ikeda had the ambition of making his scientific discovery useful to the world. This connected well through open innovation with Saburosuke Suzuki's ambition to relieve the malnutrition of Japanese people and contribute to improvement of their physique. More than 100 years ago, technologies were patented and products were registered as trademarks, and this became the foundation of our intellectual property.
As you can see in the center, it says AminoScience. As we continue to evolve the great aspiration described on the previous slide, we will continue to develop a variety of products from Ajinomoto's proprietary scientific approach, AminoScience, which is a source of competitiveness. The global development of these various businesses has been supported by IP rights, such as patents and trademarks. Next page, please. The following slides illustrate our strengths in patent rights. This slide shows the wide range of events, and new technology is patented by AminoScience. In the center of the slide, the number of patents in each of the various patent technologies in green, created by AminoScience, is shown in blue. The total number of patents held by the Ajinomoto Group as a whole, including these patents, is 4,016.
In particular, we have granted patents for a wide range of technologies in response to the development of our businesses. This contributes to building a high competitive advantage and barriers of entry. Next page, please. As our business strategy and business portfolio, and evolve, we are also promoting the evolution of our patent portfolio. This slide shows the changes in our patent portfolio over the past 10 years, from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2022. The left-hand side shows the percentage of patents held by segment, which is in green as well as some of the light blue colors. It reflects the fact that we've achieved high business growth in recent years by increasing the number of patents held in the healthcare and others segment, which is in light green.
As you can see at the bottom, the right side of the slide shows the percentage of patents held by area, which is in accordance with the priority applications in the healthcare and other segment. As shown in the lower part of the slide, the number of patents held by the Ajinomoto Group has increased from 3,713 in fiscal 2012 to 4,016 in fiscal 2022. This reflects the expansion of patent holdings in healthcare and other segments. On the other slide, on page 12, I'd like to present an example of an external evaluation of Ajinomoto's patent rights. This table shows the ranking of Ajinomoto Group's restraining power with respect to domestic patent applications in the food industry. The higher the rank, the higher the restraining power against other companies.
As shown in the table, Ajinomoto is ranked number 1 in 2022 and has been ranked number 1, 9 times in the past 10 years. We believe that this result reflects our IP strategy, which is strongly focused on competitive advantage and building barriers of entry. Next page, please. In the next three slides, I'd like to introduce three examples of our patent strategy. The first one is the seasoning and amino acid production technology that supports the global expansion of our sauces and seasonings and amino acid business. As shown above on the left, we have established high barriers of entry by patenting key technology for the entire manufacturing processes, from raw material sugar to seasonings and amino acids, specifically the amino acid-producing bacteria, fermentation process, and isolation and purification process.
In addition to holding patent rights, we've taken a firm stance against patent infringement by latecomers and have won lawsuits against the U.S., Chinese, and South Korean companies, thereby securing a continuous competitive advantage in the market. Next page, please. So this is an example related to Functional Materials and ABF. This slide shows an example of ABF in the Functional Materials business. In the development of ABF, R&D, and IP departments work in unity, and the technological development and the IP strategies are overly synchronized. This enables us to realize a high-speed development system and to maintain a de facto standard position. The left shows the number of ABF-related patents in the graph and patent value.
In order to maintain our de facto standard position, it's important to strengthen the number and value of our patents, and we have dramatically increased both the number and value of our patents. At the same time, as shown in the figure on the right-hand side, we are developing new product groups as part of the deployment of ABF core technologies. Furthermore, as a next-generation development field at the bottom, we will accelerate the development of optical waveguide materials for Photonics-Electronics Convergence packages through participation in the Advanced Platform Consortium, thereby contributing to future society.
Next slide, please. Third example here is about the Bio-Pharma Services business in AJICAP. As shown in the purple box, AJICAP is a platform technology for synthesizing ADCs or antibody drug conjugates that control the position and number of drugs bound to antibodies for which we hold patents. On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies design the combination of antibodies and drugs. In contrast, we use AJICAP technology to create and license ADCs that are optimized for each pharmaceutical company. The pharmaceutical company develops and launches the ADC as a pharmaceutical product with a controlled number and position of drug binding, which is made possible by the AJICAP technology. In this case, we will receive royalty payments. Strong patent rights are essential for such intellectual property-based businesses.
In order to continue this kind of business, we need to enhance the value of our patents and maintain them. As you can see on the graph on the right-hand side, you could see the number and value of healthcare patents, including AJICAP. Both the number and value of patents have increased significantly, especially in value, which we put focus on. Towards our partners, we would like to. We believe that this is proof that we have been able to enhance our company's presence. Next page, please. This chart shows the correlation between patent value and business profitability in the business areas where the patent portfolio has been strengthened. This chart shows a business area where patent value is very important, Functional Materials and Bio-Pharma Services combined. And you could see that patent value and business profit is highly correlated.
In these business areas where patent value is important, we will further strengthen measures to increase patented value. Next slide, please. Well, changing gears, now I'd like to speak about trademarks. As the graph indicates, the Ajinomoto Group has 3,069 trademarks in 2012 and 5,434 in 2022. The number of trademarks is on the rise, partly due to business expansion, but in addition, pertaining to design element and shape, we enhanced our trademark registration for these elements. This pie chart indicates the breakdown by geography. The number of trademarks or percentage of trademarks in EMEA, shown in yellow, may seem decreasing. This reflects the fact that country-wide trademark registration processes were streamlined through the use of collective regional registration system. The Ajinomoto Group logo, shown below, has been registered in 143 countries and regions. Ajinomoto MSG, MSG logo has been registered in 172 countries and regions.
This means that our trademarks are registered in almost all countries and regions where we operate worldwide. Next slide, please. In the case of trademarks, just like patents, we not only possess the rights, but we also protect or defend the rights and take action to demonstrate our presence in the market. This slide shows our initiatives to eliminate imitation and unauthorized use of our brands. The left side summarizes recent activities whereby we eliminated unauthorized use of our brands. We resolved 100% cases of unauthorized use of our trademark through warning and other measures. We won 4 out of 4 lawsuit cases pertaining to our trademark. In addition, we reduced the number of unauthorized use of our brands found on major e-commerce sites by approximately 12,000 over the past 5 years.
In Thailand, for example, it was widely reported that 50,000 bags of counterfeit products were seized in a criminal investigation. In China, we worked with the e-commerce sites to remove counterfeit stores. In Bolivia, we successfully banned the sales of imitation products through civil lawsuits. In Vietnam, we worked with the relevant authorities and taught them how to discern counterfeit products to enhance their ability to detect and prosecute counterfeit products. Next slide, please. Number three, evolution of IP strategy toward realizing the 2030 Roadmap. I'd like to touch upon this matter. In the 2030 Roadmap, we will be leveraging BMX to shift to growth in the four outcome-driven growth areas to attain a pro- highly profitable, highly profitable, unique, and robust structure. This is the overall direction for the entire group, and we are evolving our IP strategies along this line.
This slide shows the key points of strengthening IP strategy based on visualization. Business strategy, R&D strategy, and IP strategies will be working together to acquire patents ahead of others in the four BMX areas based on visualization in order to establish competitive edge. To be more specific, as shown in this diagram, visualization allows us to understand our own and other competitors' patents, technologies, as well as market trends. With this way, we can identify key technologies and patent, and patent those technologies as early as possible, establishing a presence as a player. In addition, we will search for ecosystem partners to form partnerships in order to establish a competitive edge in growth areas. As the diagram indicates, business strategy, R&D strategy, and IP strategy need to work together to execute a range of activities.
For this, we need to work with the innovation strategy team to build the ecosystem as well. Next slide, please. From here on, let me now explain the evolution of our IP strategy by citing an example of cell culture media for regenerative medicine. In this particular case, we utilize our research network to deal with, to work with CiRA, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application, Kyoto University. Such research network is very important for creating innovation, and we created a de facto standard cell culture media through this initiative. As shown on the left, we've our business evolved from serum-free culture media to biopharmaceutical culture media, whereby we cultivated our strength and our knowledge of not using animal-derived raw materials, our ability to customize cell culture media for each customer, and our quality control.
Because our technological strengths matched the needs of CiRA, we began the collaboration, and now we are jointly developing cell culture media for regenerative medicine. This is a good example of innovation spurred from the research network, and this method can be rolled out in elsewhere as well. Number two: in commercializing the joint research project with the CiRA, shown in the previous slide, R&D and business, as well as IP strategies, were always in lockstep with one another. Together, we planned and executed strategies and successfully established a business as a new field, in a new field.
As part of the R&D and business strategy shown in blue, on the left, we leveraged our knowledge and optimized formulation, which was accumulated through the experience of antibody cell culture media, to realize the rapid development and commercialization of a cell culture medium jointly developed with CiRA. So those three parts work together in synchronizing with one another, to create, t o ensure our competitive edge and build entry barriers by patenting in-house technologies and preventing infringement of other patents as well. This has been adopted as a standardized method elsewhere as well. Next slide, please. We have been promoting the IP Landscape by using various tools and to analyze our own and other companies' patents, and to visualize patents and technologies from a bird's-eye view.
This landscape is used to analyze IP information and to formulate management strategies and promote corporate decision-making. Let me cite an example. The left diagram shows an example of in-house patent analysis, which is based on value chain, in this case. In the middle, this is the analysis of other competitors, analysis of IP. On the pink portion is us, and on the X-axis, on the Y-axis, depending on the cell culture media components, we are analyzing the strengths of other companies. And by doing this, we can identify where we are excel and where others excel. In the right, this is a bird's-eye view of the landscape view in the regenerative medicine.
This diagram shows areas of high interest, where patents are concentrated, where you can see a peak in the diagram, and how they're intertwined with the other domains inside the regenerative medicine area. So the purple portion, cell culture equipment, as well as cell production in black, those are the adjacent areas where we've been identifying, thanks to this diagram. We are collaborating with the players in areas that attract attention in this particular area, and we can further expand our ecosystem. By utilizing this information, we'd like to further promote this, formulate strategies, and this method has been widely adopted beyond cell culture media for regenerative medicine. Let me introduce newly established innovation strategy team, and how they are involved in building the ecosystem.
The innovation strategy team, as indicated in the footnote, is responsible for promoting speedy examination and decisions on inorganic investment, ecosystem creation, and partnering opportunities by directly accessing global markets, customers, and innovation in order to realize our growth strategy. As shown on the left, the team operates globally and promotes innovation in the four BMX areas. IP resources will be also accelerating global expansion under this global concept. As you can see on the right, this shows the member breakdown. The IP, business, CVC, M&A, and R&D are all encompassed. Especially with IP, 10% of the IP team joined the innovation strategy team to promote the integrated management. Doing this will ensure R&D, business, and IP strategies to be fully integrated in such a way that we can establish and promote business, CVC, and M&A strategies through information gathering, discernment, and technology scouting.
Number four, enhancing the foundation that addresses IP strategy. To improve the IP skills for the entire Ajinomoto Group stepwise, we formulated plans by hierarchy and by purpose in order to raise the entire level of IP-related skills. This is why we continue providing training programs to about 1,500 employees per year, or 30% of the target employees. As you can see, the training programs are provided by different levels and at each hierarchy. And doing so will ensure continuous and effective skill training. And not only the ones who are involved in IP, but the entire group personnel can enhance their own IP-related skills. So this is a focus area in our activities as well. Next slide, please. Using this slide, I'd like to explain how we are strengthening our IP specialists.
As you can see in the two red portions, one is the IP specialists who are propelling this activity. More than 30% of Ajinomoto IP staff are lawyers or patent attorneys. We have a very deep bench of IP specialists in a sense, in this sense. In addition, we are training IP strategists who can formulate strategies from an IP perspective. We are promoting talent development in the future. In addition to the ongoing dispatch of, patent, dispatch to patent firms and law schools, we are also strengthening our efforts to encourage those personnel to gain more experience at business and strategy divisions as a form of cross-sectional experience. This will help us to develop IP strategists who are well-versed in discerning businesses and formulating strategies. Next slide, please.
As for the direction of investment in intangible assets, regarding the current strength of our IP strategy, as shown in the upper portion, we will maintain and grow them. Those include patents and trademarks to be maintained and enhanced, as well as our patent and trademark portfolio to be evolved, which are covered in my presentation today. On the other hand, we will accelerate the evolution of our IP strategy. The evolution of that strategy, as I mentioned earlier, encompasses early patenting of key patent technologies, exploration for partners, and globalization of the business, as well as synchronization with business and R&D strategies, improvement of IP skills, and strengthening specialized human resources. Doing so will increase our corporate value through appropriate investment in intangible assets.
Lastly, by continuing to evolve our IP strategy, we will secure entry barriers, enhance our competitive edge in order to ensure a shift to growth, and to maximize ASV value, both social and economic values, to contribute corporate value enhancement. With this, I'd like to conclude my presentation. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Izui-san. We'd like to move on to an overall Q&A session for the session. First of all, let me explain how to ask a question. If you have a question, please press on the Raise Hand button on your screen. We will be calling upon you. If you're called upon, please unmute and go ahead with your question. Even if you're participating from abroad, you are able to ask your question in English. Your question will be interpreted simultaneously and will be responded to simultaneously. Please understand and keep your questions within about two per person. We would like to ask you for your cooperation. If there's too many people who want to ask a question, we might not be able to call upon you. We hope you understand.
So now, we would like to open the floor to any questions that you may have. Does anyone have a question? Thank you very much. Mizuho Securities, Mr. Saji, over to you.
Thank you. So first of all, I would like to thank you regarding the Board and disclosing how the Board goes on in video. I was able to confirm how active it is, and it was great, and I was really able to understand it well. So that's one piece of feedback. My question is to Iwata-san. Regarding the effectiveness of the Board, you're going to promote, encourage the executive officers to risk-take. But in order to facilitate risk-taking, you have been talking about various initiatives underway, but I was wondering, from what standpoint these initiatives are in place?
Because if you're encouraging risk-taking, I think, this sounds easy, but it's probably not. So can you share with us what you're exactly doing? And also, with leadership under Mr. Fujie, you have been creating a roadmap, which is on a rolling basis, and I'm sure this is challenging. Regarding, you have changed the management method, and you update, the rolling forecast on a monthly basis, and you were saying that it's important for the Board, to do this as well. And I think your engagements around this has already started. But regarding this rolling forecast, what is the perspective from which you supervise this? If there's anything you could share on that front, that would be appreciated. Thank you.
I will answer your question, if that's okay with you. Thank you very much for your question. Well, I mentioned this in the discussion earlier, but the roadmap itself has extremely ambitious targets in place, and it was the executive officer's side, the execution side, that has put these targets together. A conventional way of doing business will probably not enable the company to achieve its targets, so the roadmap itself requires a high level of risk-taking.
So that's accounted for in the roadmap. So that's one thing I tried to communicate. Another thing I communicated earlier was the seven management, important management issues. So at the Board, we constantly deliberate about these items. So the executive side, when it comes to the Board and what kind of things are up on the radar, they understand what we are deliberating, so I think we're able to share what we see as issues. So you don't have to make management decisions by asking the Board all the time, because we have been giving out a major direction already. So based on this major direction, we really hope that the executive side accelerates the speed of management and takes risk accordingly, where necessary. So that's what I spoke about earlier.
So there's no one specific theme that we're trying to address right now, but if necessary, we also have been discussing at the Board about. We would like to discuss at the Board, which items are items where we should take more risk. And regarding, regarding the rolling forecast that you also mentioned in your question, at this point in time at the Board, the new way of managing the company, the way it's being executed on the executive side and whether it has been successful or not, we haven't yet had the opportunity to deliberate this, but we are planning to do so in the fall season this year. So right now, as of today, I am not able to give you anything in detail. But from the executives, if you have anything to add, I would like to ask you to speak out here.
So this is Fujie. I'd like to add a few comments. So we would like to share what happens together with executive officers. But regarding the rolling forecast and its purpose is so that we could have better executional capabilities and power. For in China as well as the Philippines, I had the experience of looking at cash flow every month, and I did face a situation where we were about to run out of cash at one point in time. So at least for that month or the next month, we should look at the cash balance, and we should look at other KPIs.
If the conditions are poor, maybe over the short term or the medium term, we should think about what kind of countermeasures should be underway. The leader, as well as the organization, should take the opportunity every month to think about these issues. I think that's how your executional power is going to go out. For fiscal 2023, officially, on a global basis, we have started to work on this officially. So there are some countries and regions that have started in advance, so they're doing well, but it's not as if all parts of the world are in sync yet. But at least what I can say is they now understand what we were not able to understand in the past, which I think is really important.
So we are sharing this with the Board, but we would like to work in this way going forward as well. Thank you. For your outside directors, many outside directors happened to be supervising the execution of the company, but today, you've been talking more about enhancing corporate value together. So I really hope that, I would like to follow this going forward as well, but I would like to extend my gratitude. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much, Saji-san, for the questions. Now we'd like to entertain questions from Hyogo-san, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust Bank.
This is Hyogo speaking. I'm the fund manager at the Trust Bank. Thank you very much for a very constructive presentation and discussion today. I was very impressed by the video clip that you have shown, and I understand that you are taking great effort to enhance corporate value enhancement. Well, in terms of governance structure, are there any challenges or issues to be resolved, or any future targets for you to achieve or improve in terms of the governance situation? I understand the performance has been very good for your company, and the stock price is trading very favorably. It may be difficult for you to come up with the issues to be dealt with, but I think it's, on this occasion, I'd like to seek your opinion about any issues that you are facing regarding governance.
This is not particularly of the Ajinomoto, but I'd like to raise a question about generic level of CEOs remuneration or compensation, which tends to be lower than from the global standard. What is your take on this matter? Well, if there is no return on taking risks, but for Ajinomoto to be a truly global company, you need to pay a very high compensation for the CEO, and this may be an opinion reflected from the compensation committee. Do you hear same opinion as well? Those are my two questions.
I'm not nominating someone too of this question, but this is Nakayama speaking. I'd like to take your questions. Long time, no see. Thank you for the questions. This is Nakayama speaking. I'd like to take those questions. Regarding the growth potential and where we identify issues. From my perspective, for the entire group, well, the group consists of very promising subsidiaries. So not only the Ajinomoto headquarters, but they, those subsidiaries or group affiliate, affiliated companies can exert their true potential in terms of cash and funding. They need to make necessary investments for them to spurt or exert their full potential. And in terms of the compensation level, I think this is a generic challenge facing Japanese companies. But regarding the 2030 Roadmap and others, they stipulate very ambitious goals.
So in terms of compensation for the executives, I think we need to improve the compensation scheme or level to be commensurate with the entire structure. We cannot be on par with the United States, American companies, but overall, as you rightly mentioned, Japanese companies' CEO compensation tend to be lower than from the global standard. And as an Outside Director, we'd like to raise this as a Compensation Committee. We've been deliberating this internally, but I think we need to carry on the deliberation at the Compensation Committee as well.
This is Iwata speaking. I would like to expound on this matter. I sit on the Nomination as well as the Compensation Committee as well, and I'd like to raise my personal perspective. Starting from this year, the compensation level and compensation system has been reviewed, and we are. You raised a particular question about the CEO compensation, but at this point in time, we are referring to a benchmark. The local companies, Japanese companies with nominating committees, are used as a benchmark or reference point. Because we, Ajinomoto itself, shifted to a company with nomination committee and CEO appointment delegation has been expanded. So that is why we are narrowing down on the companies with nominating committees.
And that allowed us to raise a certain level of compensation to a certain extent. As Nakayama-san pointed out earlier, from the global perspective, whether or not we are in locksteps or at the same level as global companies, no, there is still room for improvement. For example, in the case of United States and Europe, to attract those talents who are from these regions and also to the personnel who are from Japan, there is a significant compensation level discrepancies, and that remains to be resolved. So this is a midterm issue, in my perspective, so this is an area of improvement.
Thank you very much for the clarification. Well, I'd like to delve into a question as an issue related to BOD. My point was that whether or not business withdrawal or, M&A, those key management materials, if there is a negative aspect, for example, withdrawal or termination of a certain business, then return on investment. I just would like to know that, that you discuss a return on investment to, reach a final decision-making. I just would like to understand that the process is appropriate or not, in terms of the BOD agenda item.
Yes, thank you very much for the clarification. In terms of business portfolio and how it should be, we are internally deliberating this topic. To your point, yes, this is an area of interest for us to monitor. In the past, during the previous MTP, we'd often talked about structural reform and made sure that the reform was making progress. During that process, we made a significant number of, or determined a significant number of business termination and withdrawal and M&A as well. But going forward, we are going to reach and shift to growth, and that could encompass a large-scale M&A in the future. And if that happens, then in an accelerated manner, we'd like to share information or gather information from the executive side so that we can make a swift business decision on an appropriate basis.
Thank you very much for your detailed answer, and I hope I have high expectations of you. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Hyogo-san. The next person is from SMBC Nikko Securities. Takagi-san, over to you.
Hi, this is Takagi. Can you hear me?
Yes, you're clear.
Regarding IP, I have a question for you. Not only are you reinforcing your experts on this, but you're talking about brushing up the IP capabilities that all of your employees have on a group-wide basis. Why is that necessary, and why is that important? When, why, when have you acknowledged that this is important? So if there's a story around this, I would like to know, because whatever company you look at, there is always some experts on the subject. But boosting the capabilities on a company-wide basis is something that's pretty new. So I think that's a characteristic of Ajinomoto, and I do believe this can turn into a entry barrier. So why did you decide to do this on a group-wide basis? So I'd like to understand the depth or the passion around this.
Thank you very much for asking this question, Takagi-san. So I'll talk about the overall picture, and then Izui-san will be talking about the details. When we were discussing the 2030 Roadmap regarding our strengths as well as our competitive advantages, we were asking the question about what they are, and it all came down to AminoScience. Intangible assets, out of all things, is the most important. When you break that down, it's human resources, technology, customer, as well as organizational assets. You could break it up into these aspects. In 1908, since the discovery of Ajinomoto, regarding patents and trademark rights, we have been establishing entry barriers, and we have been able to enhance our competitive advantage.
We were discussing this, but actually this is not understood that well internally, is what we were saying when we debated about this. So then, we were debating about how can we enhance our employees' awareness toward this? So we did this at the management level. So Izui-san, can you talk about the details then?
Thank you very much for your question. At IP, operationally, it's about R&D, and the discoveries or inventions there are turned into patents. That was the conventional way we did operations. And of course, right now it's business and R&D, as well as IP departments that are working in sync, to promote our strategy. And when we do so, everyone needs to know about IP, or else we're not able to run this mechanism. And if we are able to have this mechanism in place, things will move smoothly.
And that's why we have an overarching target backcast, create strategies, involve business units and the production people, and work in unity, to promote the IP strategy. And we really feel that this is necessary, and that is why we put a lot of importance on this. So it's the evolution, i t's a path that we definitely need in order to evolve our IP strategy. So I hope this answers your question.
Thank you very much for that. So it's not just the experts, but I guess you need more than that in order to be successful.
Right. It's not just experts, but we need everyone in all departments to understand what IP, and we need to work together.
Yes. Thank you. If I may ask a brief question, to Iwata-san as well. Iwata-san, when you were speaking today, you were talking about the 2030 Roadmap, and that what's in it is extremely challenging, and you've been repeating that over and over again. So from your point of view, Iwata-san, which part of it is so challenging? For example, where is the high target or wall that you see in this plan?
Thank you very much for your question. Specifically, I'd say that the 2030 ASV indicators, KPIs, what's quantified in the previous three-year plan, if you go back to that, compared to what we were assuming then, in some of the items and targets, the targets have been stretched. Therefore, it's about achieving the 2030 ASV KPIs. That will be the focus. So I think when he communicates to you, Fujie-san, has been extremely careful about what he says, but he was saying that this is an ambitious target. It's not a target that can be achieved easily by resorting to the conventional way of managing the company.
So I do believe that the most challenging part of it is the vision. Based on the vision that has been depicted, the 2030 ASV KPIs have been set in place, and I believe the KPIs itself are pretty ambitious and challenging. Thank you.
Takagi-san, thank you very much for the questions. Yoshida-san, JP Morgan Stanley, next questions.
This is Yoshida speaking. Can you hear me well?
Yes.
Nice to speak to you. I'd like to raise specific questions. One is pertaining to IP strategy. Once again, I understand that Ajinomoto has functional materials in ABF of what market share is 100%, and that is because that you have secured your patent rights in the past. The mechanism of this, recently, well, ABI, the semiconductor demands are growing, but ABF grade is enhancing, and you are obtaining patents as you go higher in terms of the quality of your products. Regarding the current state of functional materials, where you have nearly 100% market share, which has the highest value of a patent in terms of your core technologies, key technologies? This is my first question.
Yoshida-san, thank you very much for the question. This is Shiragami speaking. I'd like to take your questions. Regarding functional materials IP, well, ABF grade of upgrading whether it is linked to the IP or the patent, patenting new technologies? Well, the composition patent is key. What components are used, at what percentage, and under what conditions to composite this product, and how it affects the ABF function, and how it meets the required specifications in terms of higher quality. Those are the new patents that we filed for and already granted or registered, and that is creating an even more greater entry barriers.
In addition, as it was mentioned in the material, ABF wider applications on the Y a- the X-axis, or in the photo-related or light-related areas in the future, we are patenting new technologies as well as we go advance. And depending on the property, whether or not it is culminating as a business, the timeline differs for each technology. But by accumulating this, we are creating even more patent values going forward. And another element is that speaking of this roadmap, we mentioned IP strategies and patent strategies and what the key elements are. That was your question. And to repeat ourselves, AminoScience is the core of our business, and we are advancing to these adjacent technologies where we can excel or exert our strength by patenting those technologies.
And in addition, we need to make sure that we capture the key points in the value chain. And then for the non-core areas, we can partner with someone else, so that technology-wise and business-wise, we can create values to be more efficient in terms of business management. So those are our core areas in terms of formulating IP strategy. Understand. So speaking of your technology, of your m argin is going up, and thanks to these technologies, that is that why your profitability is increasing, not by the supply-demand relationship? On page 16, the patent value as well as the correlation between patent value and BP margin. As you rightly pointed out, a patent value leads to value creation by enhancing entry barriers, and that can visualize the business profit margin.
But as it is said in this diagram, Functional Materials and Bio-Pharma Services, by their business nature, the technology itself serves as a core of business expansion or potential, so there is a strong correlation between the two. Having said that, though, I'd like to mention two other things. Speaking of Functional Materials, because we are impacted by the current market trends, so we are not actually talking about short-term scenarios. We need to implement a long-term view.
And the other element is that, as I mentioned earlier, our technology is engendered, and that is converted as an IP, and it takes time for us to actually commercialize it as a product. And that this time lag needs to be incorporated in terms of considering future, contribution of our technologies, culminating as a new business going forward. Thank you very much for the clarification.
Yoshida-san, thank you very much for the questions. We are getting a lot of questions, but, unfortunately, we are drawing close to our closing time. So the next person will be our final person, Morita-san from Daiwa Securities.
Okay, I'm the last person, so I just have one single question. I have a question for Iwata-san. From earlier, you've been talking about active risk-taking and encouraging it is essential. I think that was one of the keywords that arise in today's session. But in some cases, how about stepping on the brakes? If maybe there are risks that are too excessive, that there may be some phases where the decision needs to be made, that you're not going to take that risk. So accelerating or decelerating in risk-taking, what would be the threshold in making managerial decisions? And what will be the basis of that? What are your thoughts around this? At the Board, have you reached a consensus, or are, is there anything on your mind?
Thank you for your question. It's a very, hard question, actually. And just, this is probably my personal judgment, but in making a decision, the will, philosophy of the group or the company, whether what's happening fits that philosophy is one measurement I'll look at. And also, I'll look at what Roadmap 2030 is striving to achieve. So I'll look at the overall framework of things, and over the medium to long term, the proposals are probably being made for certain projects. I hope to make decisions based on the standards that I've just said. One more thing I would like to say is, it's not that, issues or these agenda items should not arise suddenly.
So it should be an accumulation of the business portfolio and also for M&A. One specific company, if before a person starts saying that they would like to acquire that company, we should be knowing which business areas are missing or lacking something. And that's the reason why, if a certain company is acquired, it will complement the business. Because there are four areas of growth that have been identified. And what kind of companies want to be acquired are something we should be talking about on a daily basis, and we are starting to have that kind of discussion. So upon having those daily discussions, the actual projects should arise, and based off that, we would like to make a decision accordingly.
So there is a tendency at the Board that we tend to be cautious, so that is why I accentuated encouragement of risk-taking today. But I totally agree to your point as well, as to whether we should take the risk or avert the risk. But we would like to make cautious decisions from time to time.
If I may confirm one more thing regarding how about directionally about end making decisions? Regarding, even if the direction is right, aren't there times when the risk is so high that you shouldn't pursue it? So regarding the validity of the strategy as well as the validity of the direction, are there any other standards against which you make decisions?
Actually, for the Board, regarding what you have just asked about, right now, at this point in time, we don't have decision-making standards as such. So if, a s we accumulate the number of projects, if we believe that is necessary down the road, we would like to do so, but currently, we have nothing specific to share. But we have been able to share that kind of issue among us. Thank you.
Thank you.
Unfortunately, we have to conclude the Q&A session, and now we'd like to invite Fujie-san to give us final remarks.
Thank you very much for taking time out of the busy schedule to attend our IR Day event. I'd like to raise two points. Number one, regarding today's IR Day, of course, I myself attended this, but the atmosphere is very much like the atmosphere of BOD. What I mean by that is that at BOD, the level we require or aspire at the BOD is very high. And from the executive side, we need to be accountable by explaining the details. And on a daily basis, we need to keep sophisticating our roadmap, and that is presented to the BOD. I myself sit on the panel, but once we are convinced, we need to take on new challenges.
So the atmosphere today was very similar to that of BOD. The attendees today include Outside Directors' perspectives in terms of how to further raise our corporate value. We are all achieving 90%, but in terms of climbing the Mount Everest, remaining 10% needs to be tackled by further OE and other sophistication. So those are the high expectations we have today that penetrated this conference today. As the CEO, I resonate with you, and I once again would like to renew my commitment towards a speed up and scale up motto. Number two, in order to do this, the competitive edge that is proprietary to Ajinomoto, or uniqueness, is represented by the intangible assets we have. Today, our topic was IP.
But we have other intangible assets as well, that serve as a source of competitive edge and source for the roadmap. So we hope to provide a better image of that in the next rounds of IR events like this as well. Through exchange of dialogues or exchange of opinions, we'd like to ensure that we in further spur the growth or enhancement of corporate value, and thank you very much for your participation for today.
With this, we'd like to conclude the IR event today. Thank you very much for your participation, and the session is adjourned. Thank you very much.