Panasonic Kicks into Gear Its "Game Changer Catapult" Initiative to Accelerate Efforts in Developing New Home Electronics Businesses

Kusatsu, Japan - Panasonic Corporation Appliances Company kicks into gear its "Game Changer Catapult" initiative to accelerate efforts in developing new businesses that focus on home electronics and for training personnel who can lead the way in this field.

In recent years, new and innovative products and services have drawn attention. Amid this environment, Panasonic has promoted open innovation, which encourages external collaboration and co-creation and internally, the bottom-up discovery, development, and strengthening of new business ideas.

As part of this initiative, in May 2016, Panasonic established for the very first time a system that encourages employees to submit new business ideas. Under the theme, "Game Changer Catapult," which promotes a shift towards unconventional businesses, many innovative business ideas were submitted and finalists were selected on July 21, 2016. In the future, Panasonic will dedicate its resources and know-how to these new business ideas to get them on their feet quickly. Moreover, by introducing these new ideas to the market at exhibitions, etc., during its early stages, Panasonic will reflect market feedback to its businesses and products.

The "Game Changer Catapult" will organize MIT Media Lab(*1) lectures and UX design seminars(*2) to promote open communication among industry professionals and encourage collaboration with third parties. And as part of its "Game Changer Catapult" initiative, Panasonic will organize joint workshops with key persons and companies across industries and actively communicate with various stakeholders in society. Moreover, Panasonic will aspire to build partnerships with other companies, organizations, and individuals to quickly create value for customers for different processes along the supply chain such as development, manufacturing, and sales.

As competition in the home electronics market intensifies, Panasonic will accelerate innovation through its "Game Changer Catapult" initiative to help realize "A Better Life, A Better World."

*1: MIT Media Lab:
The MIT Media Lab is an interdisciplinary research lab founded by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 (Associate Director, Hiroshi Ito). It mainly explores the boundary, interface between the digital world (bits) and the daily physical world (atoms) and its applications. The lab aspires to unify science, engineering, design and art. It is sponsored by global corporations, and Panasonic has been a sponsor since 2011.
*2: UX design:
UX stands for user experience and refers to companies bringing to life and providing experiences users want.

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