Thank you very much for waiting. Thank you for joining or viewing Daiichi Sankyo's FY 2024 discussion meeting on sustainability. I'll give you a very busy schedule today. I am Asakura from Corporate Communications Department. I'm delighted to serve as MC today. Thank you very much for your time. Let me introduce our presenters today: Representative Director, President and COO Hiroyuki Okuzawa, Director, Executive Officer, Head of Global HR, Chief Human Resources Officer Takashi Matsumoto, Outside Director, Chairperson of the Compensation Committee Sawako Nohara, and Outside Director, Chairperson of the Nomination Committee Takaaki Nishii. Let me additionally explain today's discussion meeting. As we communicate to you in advance, using COO message and human capital-related roundtable meeting themes from the Value Report 2024 on our company's value creation story, we plan to explain challenges we face and specific initiatives to address those issues.
We'd like to engage in discussions with you so that we can utilize your valuable feedback for future management and the development of the next midterm business plan. Thank you. This is the agenda for today. First, Okuzawa and Matsumoto will explain topics entitled "Towards Daiichi Sankyo's Sustainable Growth and Human Capital Supporting a Global Business Expansion," respectively, followed by time for Q&A and discussion with Okuzawa and Matsumoto. Then, Outside Directors Nohara and Nishii will explain Daiichi Sankyo as seen by external directors, followed by time for Q&A and discussions with all the presenters. Now, Okuzawa-san, please.
Good morning. Okuzawa speaking. Thank you very much for joining Daiichi Sankyo's discussion meeting on sustainability today out of a very busy schedule at the end of the year. First, I will explain our initiatives towards Daiichi Sankyo's sustainable growth.
Our purpose is to contribute to the enrichment of quality of life around the world. In order to realize our 2030 vision of becoming an innovative global healthcare company contributing to the sustainable development of society, we are expanding our business globally with oncology business at the core and are working to create innovations continuously. The foundation supporting innovation is our strength in science and technology, a source of our competitive edge, and human capital to generate it. By strengthening human capital in line with the business environment and globalizing our organization, we can create continuous innovations. By reinvesting the value we generate into various capitals such as human capital, we aim to realize our continuous value creation story. Today, I will explain our materiality initiatives important in the continuous cycle of this value creation story and talk about strengthening pre-financial capital in the value creation story.
Towards realizing sustainable growth, I will explain specific initiatives for strengthening our strength in science and technology, which is a source of innovation, as well as strengthening the global organization by fostering corporate culture and enhancing employee engagement essential for the rapid growth of a business so that we can discuss with you later. Based on expectations and demands from society, as well as the importance within our group, we have identified eight materialities as important issues we should work on towards sustainable growth. Also, in order to swiftly reflect changes in expectations and demands from society and the importance within our group, we conduct an annual management cycle of monitoring, goal setting, reviewing KPIs, and periodic reporting to the Executive Management Committee and the Board of Directors for deliberation. We have set materiality KPIs up to FY 2025, and we are working on them.
Progress towards achieving Materiality KPI is generally on track as planned, but we acknowledge challenges in certain Materiality KPIs. First, Materiality of promoting environmental management. We set the KPI target to reduce CO2 emissions intensity based on sales, Scope 3, Category 1, by 15%, but FY 2023 result was a 25.9% increase from FY 2020. This increase was observed along with increased activity levels such as production volume due to demand growth much higher than our forecast back in 2020 when this target was set. We will acquire primary data emissions from our suppliers and establish calculation methods. For the future, we'd like to consider goal setting with primary database to reflect the reality. We set the KPI goal that at least 70% of our business partners, based on procurement amount, set targets at the SBT level of 1.5 degrees Celsius target.
But just about 43.1% of our business partners have done so. From FY 2023, we initiated engagement with our business partners who have not set goals yet. We will aim for further engagement and strengthening of support measures for our business partners with high transaction volumes that have not set SBT targets yet. Last but not least, for materiality of promoting the success and development of a diverse range of people, we set the KPI goal of 30% as the ratio of female employees in senior managerial positions, but FY 2023 result was 18.7%. Regarding the challenge, the percentage of female employees in senior managerial positions in Japan, we set the high target value of 20%. The percentage has increased from just 4% at the end of March 2021 to 11% at the end of September 2024. But we believe we need initiatives to further promote women's empowerment.
Later, Matsumoto, CHRO, will explain our initiatives in detail. We will work on materiality through an annual materiality management, create social and economic value, and realize sustainable growth. In preparation for the formulation of the sixth midterm business plan, a materiality assessment is currently underway. In addition, to further strengthen the global sustainability promotion framework, we plan to establish a sustainability committee in April 2025. We are aiming for rapid global business expansion as well as sustainable growth. We are promoting various initiatives to reinforce pre-financial capital, namely intellectual capital, human capital, manufactured capital, social and relationship capital, and natural capital. To realize sustainable growth, we are working to enhance our strength in science and technology, which is a source of innovation. In particular, we position human capital as the most important capital.
In order to establish a strong organization which can grow globally, acquire and develop specialized talent, and foster corporate culture, we are investing continuously and strengthening our global organizational structure. We are accelerating global R&D, expanding global production and supply systems, and enhancing quality initiatives in the entire value chain. By doing so, we are aiming for rapid business expansion. Investments in these initiatives aim to enhance each type of capital, which we position as pre-financial capital that will generate cash flow in the future. We will enhance our own unique capital and establish mid to long-term sustainability and competitive edge. Next, I will explain strengthening our strength in science and technology, which is a source of our value creation.
As a drug discovery company originating from Japan, we are leveraging our DNA in drug discovery, which has passed down since our founding, and providing innovative pharmaceuticals to patients and their family members. This DNA itself is our biggest strength: science and technology. At our research and development hubs, our culture leading to that strength has taken deep root. Specifically, scientific freedom, a research culture where individuals, regardless of their position, can freely discuss and propose ideas based on their own thinking, intelligent failure, a culture of embracing challenges without fear of failure, and accumulating valuable insights from experiences to drive future successes, and craftsmanship, the spirit of meticulous craftsmanship that has been passed down for over 120 years. Such culture is taking root, and each is becoming a source of science and technology.
By respecting this culture and refining our strength in science and technology, we are aiming to enhance reproducibility of innovation creation and realize sustainable growth. As a specific initiative for five DXd ADCs, through our strategic alliance with AstraZeneca and strategic collaboration with U.S. Merck, we are leveraging their capacity, resources, and capabilities and accelerating the product value maximization. By combining our expertise and the development capabilities of the two world top-class oncology companies, we are delivering our innovation to patients and their family members. By appropriately allocating R&D resources to the development of both DXd ADC products, we are accelerating sustainable innovation creation. Also, through these partnerships, we are learning great global R&D know-how of the two partners, which I think is leading to the strengthening of our R&D. We are also working on the expansion of research institutes by utilizing global networks.
In May this year, we opened research institutes in Boston in the United States and Munich in Germany to incorporate world-class technologies rapidly. Through the establishment of new research facilities at Shinagawa R&D, we are working on initiatives to enhance our research capabilities and further enrich the environment to generate new ideas and innovation. By nurturing global leaders who inherit the DNA of Daiichi Sankyo, we aim to further embed our corporate culture and build a strong global organization where diverse talent thrives with high engagement. Our corporate culture, One DS Culture , is the core foundation of value creation. By embedding one DS culture in our group as a whole, I believe that the entire global organization can be more united to move towards the realization of our purpose. For the DS Academy, we launched this fiscal year. CFO Ogawa has been appointed as the first principal.
In this program, for developing management candidates, participants not only acquire advanced leadership and management skills but also deepen their understanding of Daiichi Sankyo's history and 1DS Culture, ensuring the continuation of the company's DNA. In addition to our group training for about 30 management candidates in and outside of Japan, we are developing next-generation global leaders through group discussions and mentoring sessions with Executive Management Committee members. Following the session in Tokyo in April 2024, we had another session in Munich in October. Contents include topics to brush up their core skills such as leadership, patient centricity, and vision and strategy. In addition, management from Daiichi Sankyo Europe has also joined so that the participants can learn the pharmaceutical market in Europe and Daiichi Sankyo's history and business there and further expand their perspective as a leader.
We heard feedback from participants who said they could acquire company-wide perspectives in addition to leadership skills, could have open discussions with Executive Management Committee members, and could participate in sessions with members from Japan and abroad, deepen discussions, and have connection with them. There were expectations for opportunities to achieve deeper connection among the participants, such as social events and team building in addition to the sessions. Next-generation leaders who share our corporate culture hopefully will drive global growth of our group so that we can create an environment with competitiveness and competitive edge where diverse talent thrives with high engagement. I am confident that human talent is a source for a company to move forward globally. In order to build a strong organization which can grow continuously, I think it's important for diverse talent from around the world to work with high level of engagement.
In addition to my visits to all locations in Japan last fiscal year to enhance employee engagement and unifying force, the so-called COO and CHRO's visit to group companies outside of Japan have been conducted from this fiscal year with CHRO Matsumoto to focus on interactive communication with our employees. By now, we have visited 20 group companies and engaged in dialogue with about 17,000 employees. During the dialogue, I communicate my personal thoughts and the company's management policies, encouraging each one of the employees to adopt an accountable mindset, a proactive approach to taking initiative, and to find alignment between the company's purpose and their own personal purpose, which I believe will lead to their engagement. So I am encouraging our employees to act with such a mindset. In addition, during the Q&A session, we received a lot of questions from our employees and had active discussions.
Through this initiative, I believe employees felt more convinced about the direction of the company. I was able to confirm the progress of activities to foster 1DS Culture and the employees' high motivation and commitment to realize our purpose. I'd like to make efforts to engage in dialogue with our employees continuously into the future and urge them to understand the company's management policies and ideas so that they can work with high engagement. Lastly, I'd like to share the vision of Daiichi Sankyo in my capacity as the top management. In Japan, since ancient times, there is a way of thinking called Sanpō Yoshi, three-way good, good for the seller, good for the buyer, and good for society. Doing something good for customers, for ourselves, and for society is the business according to this idea.
In modern words, this is an idea to co-create value with multi-stakeholders, which is exactly our value creation model. This idea is applied to our numerical targets in this illustration on this page. Revenue on the left shows how much our innovation is accepted by patients. In the COGS, S&G expenses, and R&D expenditure on the right, in order to make investments to expand human capital, implement manufacturing and R&D initiatives, collaborate with business partners, and also to protect communities and the global environment on earth, and to create innovation, the value provided to our employees and society at large is also reflected as well. From such profit we gain from our corporate activities, we make tax payments, return to shareholders, and retain the earnings for our future growth.
In line with our purpose to contribute to the enrichment of quality of life around the world through our business activities to contribute to patients, we aim to grow as a company, return the funding we gain there to stakeholders in a well-balanced fashion, and allow all stakeholders to benefit from our business growth. This is necessary to be a company highly evaluated by society with continuous expectations. As the top management of Daiichi Sankyo, this is what I'd like to put to practice and realize continuously into the future with responsibility. Thank you very much.
I am Matsumoto. I have been involved in human resource management for many years, and I have been working on the globalization of human resource since 2007.
I was appointed a director of the board in June of this year, and as Chief HR Officer, I will contribute to achieve the purpose through human resource management, human resource development, and culture building. I will now explain our approach to human capital, which supports global business expansion, and our human resource strategy aligned with our management strategy. In order to realize our purpose and vision, we consider our most important asset to be our human capital that generates science and technology, our strengths, and deliver them to the medical community and patients. We organize human capital into three elements: power of individual, which is the strengths of individuals who continue to grow; power in numbers, which means continuous supply of talent to areas of focus; and power of synergy, which is the environment and structure to create synergy among people and organizations.
We are strengthening our human capital by linking our management and human resource strategies. Our global business expansion has been driving the company's growth at a level never experienced before. To support this rapid growth, our human resources strategy is becoming increasingly important. We are fortunate that our rich development pipeline is currently attracting people, but as CHRO, I want the company's culture and people naturally attract new competitive talent. I will continue my efforts to realize that the company is globally recognized as the Daiichi Sankyo of people and becomes a place people want to work. I will now explain specific measures. This slide shows the basic concept of our human resource measures, which I explained at last year's ESG presentation.
In order to expand our human capital, we are studying and upgrading human resource measures that will lead to the realization of management strategies by drawing a path of linkage between human resource measures as inputs, their results as outputs, and outcomes of human capital. We are steadily implementing our HR initiatives. Today, I'd like to explain the progress of the measures highlighted in red, which we are particularly focusing on in fiscal year 2024. First, I will explain our efforts to acquire and develop specialized professionals. We are focusing on acquiring and training specialized professionals who can respond to the global expansion of the oncology business and rapid changes in the business environment, aiming to enhance our strengths in science and technology and maximize the value of our products.
Globally, we are hiring and developing talents in line with our focus on the oncology field, and the number of employees outside of Japan, including those in North America and Europe, increased by 39%. This is mainly the result of our aggressive efforts to acquire specialized professionals such as clinical development and technology personnel. In Japan, we have identified and are strengthening specialized professionals that need to be strengthened in particular, which are biopharmaceutical, global, and DX professionals. We have set a target number of specialized professionals to be acquired, including external hires and internal HR development, and are actively investing in the development of specialized professionals, as well as establishing systematic HR programs such as trainer-trainee training.
In addition to support the growth of employees and increase the mobility of personnel within the group, we are expanding our internal recruiting system, reallocating employees to areas of focus, and providing opportunities for new challenges. In this slide, I'd like to explain how we are fostering our corporate culture, the 1DS Culture. In order to transform ourselves into a truly global company, the Daiichi Sankyo Group is working to foster the 1DS Culture unique to us. Since fiscal year 2021, we have been using the Global Engagement Survey to review the current level of penetration and issues. The results of the FY 2023 survey showed that low scores, particularly in the areas of collaboration and learning from failure, were recognized as issues.
In order to resolve these issues, all management members discussed the survey results and decided to make fostering a culture where employees learn from each other a priority global commitment for FY 2024. Specific initiatives include holding workshops for global leaders and culture ambassadors who support the leaders of each organization, encouraging collaboration among employees and learning from failures through video production and other activities to realize the global commitment. The graph on the right shows the positive response rate for the materiality KPIs of corporate culture, work environment, and development growth opportunities. They were researched as part of the Global Engagement Survey, and both are showing steady progress toward achieving their targets. We believe that this is due to the development of common and consistent activities throughout the company in response to the identified priority issues of global commitment.
Through these efforts, we are working to foster and embed the 1DS culture. Next, I'd like to introduce the status of promotion of women's empowerment at our company. We are promoting inclusion and diversity in order to make the most of the individuality and abilities of our employees and continue to create competitive new values. As for our global efforts, we have established the People Philosophy, joined the HPA, and are promoting collaboration amongst regions. For details, please refer to the slides. Next, I'd like to explain about the promotion of women's empowerment in Japan. We set the percentage of women in management positions as KPI to measure the results. As President Okuzawa explained earlier, we are aware that it is challenging to achieve the target for FY 2025, which was originally set in FY 2020.
The ratio is particularly low in Japan, and we recognize that this is partly due to the low ratio of women hired in the past and turnover rate after joining the company. Against this background, we have been making more efforts in Japan. The percentage of women in management positions was 2.4% in FY 2016 and increased to 14.2% in FY 2024. This is due to the implementation of one-on-one dialogues between Chief Strategy Officer Fukuoka, a leader in promoting women's empowerment, and each division head regarding the appointment of women to management positions, proactive nomination of female employees for selective training, efforts to develop female leaders through SWAN, a network for women's management, and further efforts to recruit female management candidates. In order to increase the percentage of female senior managerial employees, we place emphasis not only on acquiring human resources from outside but also on internal talent development.
To support employees who wish to take on management positions, we will create a flexible system to balance work with childcare and nursing care, creating a total employment environment in which all employees can play an active role. The last HR measure I will introduce is a new unified global HR system. We plan to introduce a globally standardized grading system, an evaluation system that focuses on generating results and developing talent through coaching, and a compensation system that provides treatment aligned with roles and contributions. As for the progress of the new HR system, its implementation is scheduled to be completed in fiscal year 2025 in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, and in fiscal year 2026 in the ASCA region, including Asia and Latin America.
The new evaluation system started to be implemented in the three regions, including Japan, and we are beginning to see challenges such as insufficient coaching skills and managers with subordinates from different countries struggling to communicate with each other. To address these issues, we created common global training materials to improve coaching and feedback skills, supporting managers in cross-cultural communication. We will continue to smoothly introduce a unified global HR system and create an environment in which all employees can reach their full potential with the aim of maximizing human capital. That concludes my explanation of human capital. I would appreciate your comments during the Q&A session. Thank you very much.
Now, we would like to start Q&A session and discussions. If you have questions, please raise your hand.
Thank you very much. Hyo Go from Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking speaking. Thank you for the explanation.
I have two questions to Mr. Matsumoto. Thank you for disclosing engagement survey results and explaining your understanding of issues. I'd like you to elaborate on these. I'm sure that all global employees were surveyed, but depending on the department, such as production, research, development, sales, and marketing, and depending on their nationality, trends might be different, perhaps, in my view. It may be difficult to talk about all the regions, but where have you identified issues in Japan? I'd like you to comment. Also, looking at issues you have faced, because of the stringent principle of reward and punishment, there may not be many opportunities to learn from failure and receive a lot of feedback without much collaboration among different departments. That's what I thought, just looking at the text on the presentation slides. Could you please elaborate on this if possible?
This survey is categorized by item and uses items that can be applied to any industry in general. When we focus on Daiichi Sankyo, what is the situation? I would appreciate your comment. That's all from me.
Hyo Go-san, thank you for your questions. You'd like to know the challenges in Japan in particular. In principle, we are implementing the survey globally. The results were disclosed to each unit head by global unit, including Japan-only units such as Japan Business Unit, with detailed data on the situation of each organization and comparison against the benchmark and the entire company. The unit heads look at the results, identify their issues, discuss where to improve in one-on-one dialogue sessions with the CEO, and execute measures to improve. That's one way. Another way is about global commitment, which is common across the entire EMC.
We checked areas where we are rather weak across the company. As a result, we identified collaboration and learning from failure, so we are working on these issues right now. What about the challenges specific to Japan? What are the characteristics of Japan? We are not disclosing this very much, but looking at Japan compared to the company as a whole, we find very good numbers. Engagement scores in Japan are said to be low in general. We check our scores in comparison against all industries in Japan, use as a benchmark, and perform an analysis of our scores. What about each function? We are analyzing it as well, but can we get the benchmark for each function in Japan? Not necessarily. Daiichi Sankyo scores are quite good in Japan, so we are confident. I think we have built our corporate culture with relatively active high engagement.
Also, in Japan, learning from failure and collaboration emerged as challenges. As for the background, first, for collaboration, we are doing very well in collaboration within teams, but among our different departments or different teams, we tend to go into a silo. The need to involve other departments to work has emerged as an issue, so when we learn from failure, we are asking organizational heads to plan learning review sessions with other departments as well, and they are working on this right now. With regards to learning from failure or learning from experience, despite your mention, we don't think we have the stringent principle of reward and punishment without a lot of feedback. Due to the nature of a pharmaceutical company, there are departments which should never make a mistake, while other departments such as R&D should make a lot of trials and errors to demonstrate innovation.
Requirements are different, but the survey item is still learning from failure to see whether we are afraid of failure or not. Due to the survey items used as something in common, depending on the departments and depending on how to respond to questions, I think there can be some difference. We are now implementing a campaign by each organizational unit. As we have lots of things we can learn not only from failure but also from success, we can learn from experience so that we can reflect it next time. We are taking such behavior.
Thank you very much. Could you please comment on how to implement value relationship analysis in the future, just briefly?
Setting aside whether the Yanagi Model is good or not, regardless of the industry, relatively speaking, in terms of the value relationship, various industry people are working hard and starting initiatives to analyze the relationship among human capital, investments,and PBR, for example. Are you going to do this? What's your timeline? Could you please explain? That's all from me. Thank you.
We call this impact path, and we are trying to sort it out. Probably, also at our briefings two or three years ago, we said that we will do these things. We mentioned that this is work in progress. At that time, it was work in progress, or we were to initiate from them, which was closer to our level. But now we are using an external vendor. How HR initiatives will be linked to what kind of financial statements in the end?
Such an analysis is now underway. We are seeing several possible correlations, but whether they will really lead to causal relationship, we have not been able to reach such an analysis yet. If we can see the results, maybe next year, we are hoping to talk about it again around that time. We are stimulated by the Yanagi Model for sure, so we are working on it, but we have not been able to find an answer yet in reality. I am counting on you. You are making a lot of HR investments and measures, so I hope you can link this to the effectiveness and corporate value. That's my request to you. That's all from me. Thank you very much. This is a dialogue session, so let me say this. If there are any possible clues about what you'd like to see, please let us know.
That would be highly appreciated. There may be difference among different participants due to different attributes, but the relationship with PBR is very much required. In case of pharmaceutical companies, the timeline is very long as part of the assumptions. Fujitsu and NRI are also doing such an analysis. In your report, not as a formal value relationship analysis, but you are presenting the company's views with comments by the president. But that kind of a thing, hopefully, will be clearer first. There's no answer about which is the best, so it would be a good idea to examine metrics which fit your company. That's my personal view. That's all from me. Thank you very much. I think setting the timeline is quite challenging. Thank you for your explanation.
Koguchi from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management speaking.
Earlier, you talked about employee engagement survey results and with regards to learning from failure and your initiatives are turning effective. An employee engagement survey like this would identify issues, and you would address those issues, so there would be improvement in the initial year, but it could worsen again the following year. I'd like to ask you so that the improvement will be retained. That's one thing, and this is my request. I have a question about the DS Academy, which is in operation mainly by Ogawa, some from April. What about the specific progress here? What did they discuss, and what did they learn? Please share if any. Next, about diversity. According to dialogue on human capital in the latest value report, maybe by coincidence, the four presenters here had discussions, and the contents were very easy to understand, which I highly evaluate.
Regarding gender diversity, as was mentioned, it could be rather difficult to make progress towards your goal, it seems. You talked about such initiatives earlier. Another thing is non-Japanese nationality. When we think about the board diversity, any non-Japanese board member or not, what's your opinion on this? I hope Okuzawa-san can explain. In the value report, Nohara-san mentioned that beyond correcting formal disparities, it's important that members with diverse values and expertise can engage in broad, multifaceted discussions. I totally agree with you, but before working on that, your company needs to make more improvement in correcting formal disparities. Otherwise, you may not be able to reach that level. Could you please explain the status of your initiatives? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. First, allow me to start with the DS Academy. We had sessions in Tokyo in April and Munich in October.
30 participants, staff members, and lecturers got together. We have had two sessions in person by now. We have a very good response. I'd like to share one thing which left an impression on me during the session in Tokyo. The three past and current presidents, Nakayama, Manabe, and Okuzawa, went onto the stage at the same time. What kind of transformation each had led at Daiichi Sankyo? In my case, what I'd like to do from now on? One by one, the three spoke on that topic. Based on that, we have Q&A sessions. The session where the three past and current presidents talking in front of the participants was regarded as something very new and fresh. The participants found this great and interesting according to their feedback. In my presentation today, I mentioned Sanpō Yoshi.
Sanpō Yoshi is used as a standard, and we need to be conscious of multi-stakeholders and contribute to each of the three. That has been talked about by the top management, and they were impressed by this according to the feedback, particularly from U.S. participants. In the U.S. corporate society, they're accustomed to. They don't find anyone making such a comment. They knew there is such a way of thinking in the world, but Daiichi Sankyo's top management talking to the participants in a forum like this in earnest left an impression on them in their mind. They said they are glad to have joined such a great company according to their feedback. I have reinforced my determination. During the session in Munich, we went into the six midterm business plan a bit. There was an interesting development. Matsumoto, who was there, should explain.
We will enter the six midterm business plan from FY 2026. We, EMC, Executive Management Committee members, have started our discussions on the plan. DS Academy participants are one level lower than the EMC members. We had a mock session with them. We asked them what kind of a midterm business plan or vision they would develop as part of the actual learning. Between the sessions in Tokyo and Munich, they engaged in a meticulous information exchange and had rounds of discussions online. They brought their idea to Munich. 30 participants were divided into five or six groups. From each small group, proposal was made. Very good ideas of vision and strategy toward that were generated. They wanted to know how to share their ideas with EMC members, and in response, what kind of feedback they can receive. They are very much looking forward to that.
I was there, and Ogawa, the principal of the academy, was also there. Some other EMC members also joined to give comments and feedback in that session. But rather than receiving feedback, there were so many questions to the EMC members from the participants. What do you think? What about the globalization? Why are you doing that? There were so many questions. It was originally scheduled to be 30 minutes, but we spent as long as one and a half hours just for this. It was a very lively session. Looking back, that was the most exciting part for them as they were able to discuss with the management equally at the same level. They expressed their view, and management responded to their view. That forum was very useful according to their feedback.
Later, the EMC also reviewed what kind of proposals they had made and discussed what could be incorporated in the business plan or not to ensure alignment. That's the flow. Next year again. Are you going to continue this about twice a year at different locations? Yes. In spring next year, we will hold a session in Boston. With a session in Tokyo in autumn, we will end there for the time being. Based on various insights we obtained there, the midterm business plan will be in full operation from FY 2026 so that it can take root. Thank you very much. I'm counting on you. Thank you. Regarding another point about diversity on the board, thank you for your question. I have been feeling for a long time that this is a challenge we need to address.
When we think about Daiichi Sankyo's business expansion and globalization as is, we now feel uncomfortable here. I feel so myself. We will sufficiently keep gender diversity and nationality on our mind. Anytime, internally from within, we should be able to appoint female or non-Japanese employees as board members. We have kept that on our mind, and I have reviewed our talent. Therefore, not far away into the future, we hope we can show you that Daiichi Sankyo is changing. So please stay tuned. I'm looking forward to seeing that. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Some people on site are still raising their hands, and we have not entertained questions from online participants.
Due to the time limitation, we'd like to move on to the next presentations. At the end, we have another Q&A session where you can ask questions.
We now conclude Q&A session and discussions with Okuzawa and Matsumoto here. Next, we are moving on to the presentation by Ms. Sawako Nohara, an outside director at Daiichi Sankyo. Prior to that, let me briefly introduce her. Ms. Nohara joined Mitsubishi Chemical in 1980. Since 2001, she has served as president of IPSe Marketing, Inc. At present, she is serving as an outside director at Keikyu Corporation and Resona Holdings, Inc. Ms. Nohara has taken office as an outside director at Daiichi Sankyo since June 2019 and has served as the chairperson of the Compensation Committee since 2022. Please refer to the material for details. Ms. Nohara, please.
Thank you for the introduction. Nohara speaking. Thank you for your time. Today, I will talk about corporate culture of Daiichi Sankyo, challenges toward becoming a global healthcare company, and compensation committee activities.
First, I will talk about corporate culture of Daiichi Sankyo. Also, from my own background, I am impressed by Daiichi Sankyo's science and technology, or S&T, and research capability excellence in particular. And at the same time, I regard this as very attractive. I feel our company's research competitive edge is serving as the core value chain functions in Japan and abroad are united to extend support, through which I think we are creating a unique DS culture that strengths in science and technology drive global expansion of pharmaceuticals. Also, at present, innovative pharmaceuticals generated from our research centers, including Enhertu, are being used around the world. Recently, global initiatives to establish new research innovation facilities are ongoing as well. We are fostering one DS culture through an approach that integrates the best aspects and differences of the workplace cultures in Japan and abroad.
I feel we have been able to cultivate an environment that generates diverse ideas and innovation by bringing together members with different backgrounds. Currently, many key positions in overseas units are held by talented non-Japanese members who have been with the company for many years, which I think is symbolized by the fact that they deeply resonate with our corporate culture and work with commitment and high engagement. Specifically, we outside directors attend EMC Executive Management Committee meetings as observers. During the discussions, global members actively speak up, and I feel they engage in discussions with a sense of unity. Furthermore, at the senior management meeting in April this year that brought together about 164 members from global units, the importance of collaboration and the challenges towards the 2030 vision was shared.
I was inspired by seeing with my own eyes the progress in globalization grounded in our strengths in science and technology originating from Japan. This is exactly the status of a strong global organization where a diverse range of people thrive with high engagement. I believe that various approaches to foster one DS culture and create innovations are functioning well. I hope that the whole global organization will continue to be united based on our research capabilities at the core and that Daiichi Sankyo will develop as an innovative global healthcare company based on the total capabilities of our group. I also hope the company will continue to value it as corporate culture unique to Daiichi Sankyo. Next, let me talk about challenges toward becoming a global healthcare company.
In aiming to be a global healthcare company, I believe it's important to build and leverage a supporting platform such as DX and IT and to develop human resource strategies. First, DX is being promoted company-wide as a platform to support the five-year business plan as of now. In aiming to be a global healthcare company, it's important to further build DX and IT-related platforms and strengthen our R&D competitiveness by leveraging our data and AI. Specifically, as of now, as measures to build DX and IT-related platforms, we are building the Integrated Data Analytics Platform, or IDAP in short. We are also promoting Project 4D to leverage data in management decision-making. We are promoting the use of data-driven drug discovery as drug discovery AI, and we are making progress in smart lab implementation and image AI utilization as well.
In order to realize our 2030 vision to become an innovative global healthcare company contributing to the sustainable development of society, we are promoting initiatives of healthcare as a service or HaaS. Through these initiatives, I hope Daiichi Sankyo will further contribute to the well-being of patients in the future as well. At the same time, acquisition and development of DX and AI talent who can support these DX promotion initiatives is critical, so I want Daiichi Sankyo to further enhance these activities. Mainly in the United States, competition over talent acquisition is intensifying, which is not just limited to DX professionals. I feel it's necessary to enhance employer branding in and outside of Japan. As was mentioned by Matsumoto-san and Mr.
Okuzawa, I hope Daiichi Sankyo will execute employer branding based on its attractive pipeline so it will serve as the core in promoting the acquisition of science and technology expertise and the acquisition and development of biopharmaceutical, global, and DX professionals. Also, let me talk about the perspectives of promoting women's empowerment out of inclusion and diversity-related topics. As CHRO, Mr. Matsumoto mentioned during the Q&A session, Daiichi Sankyo as a Japanese company is implementing good measures in the hiring, development, appointment, and various support systems, which are highly evaluated. This is my sixth year since I became an outside director. During this period, I have seen with my own eyes the steady promotion of initiatives for women's empowerment in the entire group, with a substantial increase in the number of female managers.
Having said so, compared to non-Japan areas within our group, there is a huge gap in the percentage of female managers and female employees in senior managerial positions, and this is a challenge we need to address. I want the company to strengthen global discussions on measures to resolve the issues and further promote women's empowerment initiatives in Japan. I will extend my support as an Outside Director and one of the female board members. Next, I will talk about Daiichi Sankyo's Compensation Committee. I serve as the chairperson of the Compensation Committee. Committee members are all five outside directors who attend meetings. Ms. Imazu, an Outside Audit and Supervisory Board Member, also attends as an observer.
The committee has been established to deliberate matters required for a policy on compensation of directors, as well as the individual amount of compensation at the request of the board, and contribute to the enhancement of management, transparency, and oversight functions. In FY 2024, a total of seven meetings were held by now, all of which were attended by all the committee members and the observer. Specific consideration items are described on the right side of this page. As for the compensation for CEO and COO in particular, in September and March, the Nomination Committee and the Compensation Committee hold joint meetings to discuss. In addition to the usual deliberations, they discuss CEO and COO's goal settings. In March, they deliberate on their assessment. Based on such discussions, they review the progress and achievement of CEO and COO's goals and determine their compensation amounts.
This page shows changes in the composition of the Compensation Committee and incentives under the compensation system. The executive compensation system was revised in 2021, the same year with the start of the five-year business plan, and the operational status during this period is reviewed by the Compensation Committee. About three years have passed since the revision of the system, so taking into account management issues and changes in internal and external environments, we are discussing challenges and considerations for the company's executive compensation system. By also referring to global pharma companies, major domestic pharmaceutical companies, Japanese companies making progress in globalization, we have initiated discussions on compensation policies, levels, and structures. We will continue our discussions to realize the optimal executive compensation system for the company. That's all from me. Thank you very much for listening.
We move on to the presentation by Outside Director Nishi.
I'd like to briefly introduce his background. Mr. Nishi joined Ajinomoto Co., Inc. in 1982 and was appointed as Representative Director, President, and CEO of Ajinomoto in 2015. He retired in June 2022 and is currently the Senior Corporate Advisor of Ajinomoto, and also he's an Outside Director of Kao Corporation. He was appointed as an Outside Director of our company in June 2023, and since last year, he's also serving as Chairperson of the Nomination Committee. For more details, please refer to the material. Mr. Nishi, please.
Good morning. Thank you for the introduction. I am Nishi. As Director Nohara presented earlier, I'd like to share my views on Daiichi Sankyo's corporate culture and the human resource and organizational challenges to be a global healthcare company and then make a report on the Nomination Committee's activities.
I'd like to talk about two areas of our corporate culture that I feel are strengths. First, although it overlaps with a point made by President Okuzawa at the beginning, I am introducing here two scientists, Dr. Jokichi Takamine and Dr. Umetaro Suzuki, both of whom are in our company's founding lineage, and they are among the 10 greatest inventors of Japan in the 20th century. I feel strongly through monitoring board meetings and executive discussions that the DNA that prides itself on pursuing original research and development as a drug discovery company has been passed on in the current corporate culture. What is more, as Mr. Okuzawa mentioned in his introduction of DS Academy, we can confirm that DNA in the stories of the last three presidents generating the transformative modality of 5 DXd ADCs that is equivalent to the modern founding of a company.
I think that is also the strength of this company. As a side note, Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Ajinomoto, I served as a president, is one of the 10 greatest inventors. As a corporate manager, I believe that having DNA that can be traced back to the spirit of the company's founding is a great strength in promoting globalization, diversity, and inclusion. Secondly, I believe the strength of this organization lies in the fact that it overcame many difficulties and conflicts before finding a path from the cardiovascular field to the oncology field after the merger as Daiichi Sankyo in 2007. In other words, I believe that this organization has the strategic resilience to adapt to changes in the business environment.
An episode related to this is the process of executive discussion leading up to the development of the FY 2024 budget, which is recounted on the right in this slide in the Value Report 2024. In the initial development process, there was a significant gap between the increasing R&D expenses and budget guidelines. However, in the discussion process, I saw that it was neither a top-down nor a bottom-up process, but rather a process of repeated and sufficient discussion. The discussion and decision was made in a short period of time with assessments made. It was a brilliant process. Through this process, I felt that the values of patient-centricity and DNA that emphasizes drug discovery R&D are permeating the organization, with leadership demonstrated by the management team.
There have been ongoing discussions since then in this fiscal year, FY 2024, how to move forward as a global healthcare company, in particular regarding the DX investment, which includes a very large scope of investment, and how to align with oncology within the scope of the healthcare company. Discussions were held on how to work on them aligned with global advocacy, but the simulation has been made, namely not to expand, but to be selective and focused firmly. I'd like to report to you that patient-centricity, including future patients, is a value that permeates the organization as the foundation of the one DS culture for the realization of the vision and business plan. I also believe that the recent measure changes in the organization through strategic partnership are having a positive impact on the organization and its people at this point in time.
I feel that created the perspective to take the challenge one step higher. As an outside director, while being mindful of the vulnerabilities that surface when an organization undergoes major changes, I will support and expect the management to strengthen its change-resilient culture by leveraging the lessons learned from the strategic partnership. I'd like to discuss my views of the issues related to the organization and human resources. As Mr. Matsumoto mentioned earlier, our company is developing a series of human resource measures to support global business expansion and promoting I&D. In this process, I'm keeping a close eye on the leaders driving our global management system and whether the next generation of leaders are nurtured and talent is secured. At this point, I believe that it is properly implemented.
I will continue to monitor with expectations that the talent will work to achieve our company's purpose and play a central role in the strategy to realize the 2030 vision, especially in the formulation of the sixth five-year business plan, as well as giving out messages and taking actions to promote sustainable corporate value enhancement as a global drug discovery company. I would like to encourage senior management to discuss the expansion of value creation for multi-stakeholders in the formulation of the next five-year business plan. Next, I'd like to report on the nomination committee. I am the chair of the committee. Outside directors, Mr. Kama, Mr. Komatsu, and Mr. Honma participate as committee members. Mr. Matsumoto, as outside corporate auditor, attends as an observer. This committee is based on a mandate from the board of directors. They deliberate on the selection, dismissal, and reappointment of the CEO and COO.
As Ms. Nohara mentioned earlier, we hold joint meetings with the Compensation Committee in September and March. They view the substance of the CEO and COO's goals, the interim report, and the final year-end achievement status, and make decisions through an objective and transparent process. We also deliberate on CEO succession planning, selection of director candidates, and so on as necessary to improve management transparency and supervisory functions. Eight meetings were held in FY 2024 with all committee members and observers attending all meetings. Details of the agenda are listed here on the right. In June 2024, by the resolution of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, the ratio of inside directors to outside directors was set at 50-50. The Nomination Committee selects director candidates based on the composition and balance of the company's Board of Directors skill matrix, taking into account the diversity.
Ensuring the diversity of the board of directors, including gender and internationality, and incorporating diverse opinions into management will strengthen the decision-making and supervisory functions of the board of directors. In the earlier Q&A with Mr. Okuzawa, it's mentioned that there are some challenges. We will continue discussions to optimize the composition of the board of directors. Thank you for your kind attention. We will now begin the question and answer and discussion session. If anyone has a question, please raise your hand. Yamaguchi from Citigroup, thank you very much. I am not sure who to ask. From an external point of view, you first formed an alliance with AstraZeneca and then with Merck, and I think one of the major themes now is to maintain the development and partnership and create values.
Of course, the situation has changed from when you formed the partnership to now, and the relationship with the partner companies has changed, and the members and the strategy of the companies have also changed somewhat. How do you, Mr. Okuzawa, maintain the relationship and the level of communication to keep it in good condition? And do the outside directors who look in on the situation from the outside check whether everything is going well?
Yes, thank you. First, about the mechanisms to maintain the relationship. When we formed a partnership with AstraZeneca, we created a joint executive committee with two top representatives from each company. And under the joint executive committee, we set up a joint steering committee for each function, such as clinical development, safety, commercial, etc. Then we have also created a staff team to manage the entire alliance.
Since it was our first experience to work with such a mega pharma on a large scale, it was a serious learning process in the beginning. But after five years of working together, we were able to reach a conclusion after discussing most of the issues within the framework of the joint committee. If there was a case in which we couldn't reach an agreement in the JC, we have a rule to escalate it up to the respective CEOs. That was almost never the case. We only needed it a few times, and the system operated very well. When we formed the partnership with US Merck, we were able to utilize the experience and mechanisms with AstraZeneca and, in a sense, transplanted them. We also had a considerable number of staff members who had been in charge of AstraZeneca involved in US Merck.
Thus, it was relatively easy to get into light from the start, and it's been progressing extremely well so far. If you have any experience, director, please. The board of directors is also concerned about the same questions that Mr. Yamaguchi asked and Mr. Okuzawa answered. We asked the questions, and Mr. Okuzawa gave us the same answers. In addition, regarding the areas that we jointly work with the partners, pipelines will evolve being related to each other. We are very interested in the way both companies disclose and make decisions. Therefore, we have questions and answers at the board of directors meeting. So please consider that we are checking the specifics in that way.
Thank you. Just one more quick question.
This is a bit difficult question, but I think that R&D, DX, and marketing are becoming more intertwined, and you may change the development policy utilizing DX data in the middle of development. But if you do it too much, then marketing may have issues. I think this is happening increasingly now. In your company, Enhertu is fine, but Dato is right in the middle of it. And from an outside perspective, whether the value will increase or not, whether it will be successful or not, it looks very fluid. It is difficult to see your R&D decision tree from the outside. We said it's fine, but how to coordinate the relationship between development, DX, and marketing so that the results benefit patients, sales, and investors? It is difficult to know what course to take, but I think your company is in a very fluid situation right now.
eAstraZeneca, and especially QCS Biomarker, epitomize that. How are you working on that right now?
Thank you. As a decision-making mechanism for R&D, including specific clinical development projects, we have a meeting called GPAD, where decisions can be made up to a certain level of investment. That is quite broad empowerment. The global team for each compound submits proposals to the GPAD. For example, we would like to conduct a clinical trial of this protocol, and we would propose a budget size and the time frame for the trial. Most teams are led by a person in charge of development, but there are also members in the team from marketing, DX, supply, and various other cross-functional areas, and the team makes the most appropriate proposal.
The various proposals made by compound are prioritized by GPAD as a whole, at least twice a year, and in some cases, more frequently through portfolio prioritization. I believe that we are now mostly able to achieve optimal solutions within this system and have become quite proficient in the management. Thank you very much.
Hyo Go from Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking. Again, thank you. I would like to ask a question to Mr. Nishi. I understand that Mr. Nishi has been very instrumental in introducing ROIC at Ajinomoto and Kao. In case you look at that Sankyo, how capital efficiency, awareness of ROIC are increased in what kind of discussion and whether you are improving it? Most specifically speaking, you have businesses other than ethical drugs. With that background, how are you discussing ROIC and capital efficiency improvement? I'd like you to tell this. That is one question.
The other question is about the discussion on periodic profit and loss, upfront investment, and R&D. You explained earlier you are operating in accordance with the business environment, but if R&D cost is too high, both ROE and DOE will naturally fall because of it. What is your view of this issue, including whether or not this is a good thing for a long-term future? The point is that the periodic profit and loss is lowered and the variation looks higher, which is unique to pharmaceutical companies. But in general, I don't think there are many industries that communicate the core operating profit rate before R&D deduction. I'd like to ask your view of this. These are two questions. Thank you. First, about the awareness of ROIC.
Looking at the current situation at Daiichi Sankyo, rather than discussing the achievement in a single fiscal year or in the current five-year business plan, the issues will emerge beyond that, so to put it another way, while assuming the achievement of the plan, how should we think about and control future investments? We are now intensively checking and monitoring the discussions on this point. In the earlier discussion of this fiscal year, as it may also relate to Mr. Yamaguchi's question, it is difficult to delineate the scope of DX and the scope of investment, especially when it comes to R&D, where we want to invest in order to promote efficiency or to strengthen the supply chain. We can make such things clear, but the development and marketing costs tend to be inflated.
By focusing discussions on what kind of patients and what kind of future patients DX can contribute to as a healthcare company, we can naturally prevent expansion. This way of thinking is discussed in the EMC and especially in the board of directors. We ask questions and answers are given about this so as to control the expansion. In terms of profit and loss for the period, I believe that the figures announced in the current and next five-year business plans, including DOE and ROE, are our commitment to investors and the market, and I believe that we have the culture, and management are proceeding with great focus on it. Just like the milestones, we are going to achieve this firmly, and accordingly, we'd like to check the amount of investment is determined appropriately as well. Thank you. Thank you very much.
In the past, the company invested too much and was not able to recover their investment in many cases. So I'd like to ask you to monitor this well. That's all. Koguchi from Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management. I'd like to ask a question to Ms. Nohara. We have been exchanging opinions with various female employees of various companies. We hear a lot that the lack of role models within a company is a common concern among female employees, and they often say that they wish they could see more options for their own future models. Ms. Nohara, the background is in the sciences, and in that sense, I think you can be a role model for many women. I'd like to know what you think about outside directors becoming mentors or role models for employees, especially female employees.
And if you have any specific initiatives on this regard, please share with us. Understood. Thank you very much. In the promotion of women's empowerment, it is very important to have someone who can be a mentor. I feel that from my own experience. In that sense, I think it is very important for each female employee to find a female mentor within the company or outside the company. Outside, I mean, not an outside director, but someone outside the company so that the female can envision her own future in concrete terms. I'm not sure if I am the right person for that, but within Daiichi Sankyo, as was partially explained earlier, there is a group called SWAN, which is a group of female managers.
When I joined it six years ago and became a member, it was a very small group with less than 20 members, but now I wonder how many. There are nearly 100 members who gather there as managers. And in one of the documents, a core member of the SWAN Secretariat wrote that we should stop looking for a mentor. The members of the SWAN wrote that they'll have to grow by thinking about what they want to become rather than thinking around mentorship. And I think that is a wonderful evolution. So in that sense, I think it is important not to depend only on mentors, but to imagine a career path and consider how to create opportunities. The SWAN considers it's important, and they invite speakers from outside for lectures and exchange opinions with each other, and they are getting hints through these initiatives.
I myself have lived my own career with no precedents, but in fact, there were still some people. It was someone I met briefly or my supervisor at one time. They brought out certain parts of the mentor. I connected them together and made it the core of my own. Understand the importance of mentors, but I expect that they will grow and develop without dwelling on it. So your impression is that Daiichi Sankyo has already moved on to the next stage? Yes, I think so, in terms of mentoring. As it is explained, we have a large gap between Japan and other countries, and it is true that it will be difficult to achieve the 30% target by 2025 without stepping on the accelerator very hard on a global scale. So I don't think that it is already an okay situation.
However, the good thing about our company's efforts is that not coming up with some bizarre plan, but rather we are steadily working one by one from the hiring stage to the training stage to the establishment of various supporting systems to the training of employees, including their supervisors, and then setting goals for two years, five years, and ten years from now. In this sense, I think that the promotion is progressing in a very promising way. I understand very well. Thank you.
Watanabe from Kagaku Kogyo Nippo. Thank you for your presentations. I'm sorry to return to the first half of your presentations, but regarding bio-specialized professionals development, I think that the Japanese government is discussing how to secure the talent at the national level in order to secure a stable supply going forward.
In this context, I'd like to know how well your company is securing bio-specialized professionals at this point in time and what kind of issues you are aware of. Also, you have indicated that JPY 930 million will be spent on bio-specialized professionals development. Could you talk about your plan more specifically? That is my first question. Thank you.
I'd like to answer your question with Mr. Matsumoto. As you mentioned, we think there is a great shortage of bio-specialized professionals in Japan, and we feel that it is not so easy. We would not be able to bring in experienced people or people who have built up their careers. Therefore, we need to address it by assigning new graduates or transferring our employees to other positions within the company, as well as by recruiting career professionals.
Assigning our employees in Japan into these three priority areas of human resources, global DX, and biopharmaceutical. And through internal transfers and assignments, we have been working on strengthening our human resources, which we call Project EPOC, for several years now, and the results have been positive. Especially in the area of bio-specialized professionals, we have made considerable progress in the development methods, such as training programs and trainers themselves, in which new graduates from technical vocational schools are assigned and become a competent force after six months. This kind of system has been established quite successfully, and I am confident that the in-house training will continue to progress in the future. Mr. Matsumoto, please.
As an additional note, there may have been some overlaps, but as shown in the table here, bio-specialized professionals, especially in the areas of antibody production, process development, and quality control and assurance to properly control these processes, there will be a shortage of talent, or the supply is tight. The necessary supply volume of our products, such as in-house for clinical trials and commercial, has been substantially increasing. In order to keep up with that, anticipating the number of professionals we will need in the future, we are hiring and training. As the demand grows, we will need to add more.
I think it was a good thing that around 2016, 2017, or 2018, when we shifted the gear with a certain visibility of in-house outlook, we undertook a project over a period of two or three years to move a large number of our in-house scientists into a new growth field. We moved a substantial number of people. At that time, the Medical Affairs was one of them, and how to manufacture biopharmaceuticals, including antibodies, and how to assure the quality of those products, these were challenges. We tackled these challenges within the personnel and developing the training for them. We have accumulated experience, put it in the right equipment, and worked hard to determine what kind of training to provide. We are now working on a system that will make the most of these efforts, further expand them, and enable faster training.
point is how quickly we can train someone newly transferred from a different department into the capable talent, and that we need hiring from outside. So not only hiring new graduates, but we are also hiring mid-careers and assigning them into new areas. Understood. Thank you. One more point. As you plan to increase production in the future, I believe that your company will build a manufacturing system utilizing both in-house and CDMOs. But regarding the CDMO training, I think that this is an extension of the discussion on how to secure human resources. At the government administrative level, there is also a discussion about the domestic manufacturing by CDMOs. Since your company has ADCs in particular, the manufacture is more challenging than monoclonal antibodies in general. Could you please tell us, if possible, what the training system is for CDMOs?
Basically, we evaluate the CDMOs whether they have the ability to manufacture at the required level using the recipe or method that we have established and select the most appropriate one. There is no assumption that we will train and educate CDMOs. We evaluate the CDMOs to see if they are capable for our manufacturing method. And after selection, we will work together with them as appropriate, and of course, we will get them detailed advice. But please understand that it is not a prerequisite for us to provide training for them. Understand. One more point, sorry. This is a little off the subject of this sustainability discussion, but as it is timely, allow me to ask you. Last week, the Chuikyo announced a draft framework for NHI drug prices. I would be grateful if you could comment on how you think this will affect your business.
There have been various news reports on that subject on a daily basis, and we are not yet at a stage where we have any concrete understanding with figures regarding the specific impact on our company. So I will refrain from commenting it today. Thank you. In the interest of time, we will take the next question as the last one. And the last question is from an online participant. Mr. Wakao, J.P. Morgan, please. Wakao from J.P. Morgan. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Please tell me one point. It is about page nine of the president's presentation. I think sustainable growth is very important. Could you tell me a little more about the initiatives to enhance the reproducibility of the innovation, especially the research part? It is important to create more innovations that will follow on in-house going forward.
To that end, you are investing people and money, etc. But whether innovation will be sustainable in the future, it is difficult to see that from the outside. So I'd like to know about the status of your current initiatives, especially the ADCs. The competition is intensifying. I think it will be quite difficult to generate innovation with a high level of reproducibility. I'd like to know how you are evaluating the current status of your system to enable innovation. Thank you. What we are introducing in this slide is the establishment of overseas research and innovation institutes, which we have started in Boston and Munich. We have actually sent several active researchers to these institutes.
We are combining these people with people in business development to create a strong presence in the drug discovery ecosystem in the region and to create a community where people who are working in the lab until yesterday can talk about valuable things, exploring anything new that they can do together. We hope you understand that this is quite different in nature from buying a finished product or technology. In Shinagawa, a construction project to build a large-scale new research facility is underway, and we expect that this will greatly improve research efficiency. The point, of course, is what is inside the building. It is a great pity that Dr. Agatsuma, who had been leading our research, passed away suddenly recently. We selected Yuki Abe as the new head of research. Under his new leadership, we will enhance our drug discovery capabilities. That is our current situation. Dr.
Agatsuma left behind a very significant legacy. The research team of the ADCs was established in 2010, but he himself was a scientist who had been conducting antibody research at the former company for many years before that. He used to say that when he talked about his desire to develop ADCs at Daiichi Sankyo, there were already existing ones. There was naturally a lot of disagreements within the company as to whether we should start that. However, he thought that there was still room for improvement by always keeping in mind potential optimization of the ADC technology. With this kind of idea, he demonstrated the very detailed and precise craftsmanship, which is Daiichi Sankyo's manufacturing strength. As I mentioned today, at the very forefront of our research, the intelligent failure is a phrase that Dr. Agatsuma used to say very often to describe our science and technology.
Making our own hypotheses, try them over and over again, and move forward while making corrections and modifications. We have been doing this for nearly 15 years, at least since 2010. That is passed on not only to R&D but also to the technology personnel, and we have reached a stage that we can call it the strengths of Daiichi Sankyo as a whole. Today is not Science and Technology Day, so I would like to talk about what will come next at another time. Those who have succeeded the legacy left by Dr. Agatsuma will form our army of scientists under the leadership of Abe, and now we are bringing it to fruition. We are working on a variety of very interesting projects, including not only ADCs but also new modalities, and I hope that you will look forward to them. Yes, I understand very well.
I'm looking forward to that. Thank you. We have not yet answered all the questions from the online participants, but due to the time constraints, we will end the meeting. We will consider setting up another opportunity in some form. This concludes the Daiichi Sankyo FY 2024 discussion meeting on sustainability. We will also end the online distribution here. Thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule today to participate and listen to this meeting.