Bridgestone to Create Innovation Park

Bridgestone, which is the largest tire manufacturer in the world and a Worldwide Olympic and Paralympic Partner Bridgestone has announced that it plans to create an Innovation Park. The Innovation Park which will serve as a global hub for the company’s research, development and wellness operations will reinforce its commitment to creating advanced mobility solutions and a barrier-free society for future generations after Tokyo 2020. The goal is to transform Bridgestone into a global leader in advanced mobility and sustainable solutions for a world in motion.

The project which will be carried out over a period of several years will involve a major reconstruction to the company’s current facility in the Japanese city of Kodaira, and will involve the opening of four new facilities over the next four years.

Commenting on the development, Masaaki Tsuya, chairman of the Board, chief executive and representative executive officer at Bridgestone Corporation, said that the world is evolving at a rapid pace and Bridgestone needs to be ready to cater to the needs of the generation of the future with advanced and sustainable solutions for mobility and beyond.

Tsuya added, “Bridgestone Innovation Park will be the cornerstone of our company’s next chapter as we focus on innovation that contributes to society’s advancement and creates new value for our customers, our partners, and the world around us.”

The Innovation Park is meant to promote the flexibility and creativity that is needed to support a more inclusive and connected society over the next half century while it retains the same core values and philosophy that made Bridgestone a market leader for the past 90 years.

In the 1960s, the company’s founder Shōjirō Ishibashi set up company’s former Tokyo plant and technology center in Kodaira with the purpose of creating an inclusive, active and healthy local community that respected the surrounding environment.

His moves to promote mobility, people, and the environment are highly visible today in Bridgestone’s “Our Way to Serve” global corporate social responsibility commitment. This commitment helps Bridgestone’s efforts to improve the way people move, live, work and play within its long-standing mission of “Serving Society with Superior Quality”.

Masaaki Tsuya, chairman of the Board, chief executive and representative executive officer at Bridgestone Corporation, said that Bridgestone Innovation Park will serve as the cornerstone of the company’s next chapter with the next generation of Bridgestone’s Kodaira footprint lending life to its values through four primary facilities, which will together comprise Bridgestone Innovation Park.

The first such facility, the “Bridgestone Innovation Gallery”, a museum dedicated to Bridgestone history and innovation initiatives is designed to engage customers, partners and the local community. It is slated to open in June 2020. “B-Innovation” and “B-Mobility” are due to be opened in November 2021.

B-Innovation will serve as a futuristic innovation and collaboration laboratory, where the company’s staff will work with various internal and external stakeholders. B-Mobility will be a demonstration and testing facility that will expedite product development and will include several courses and data analysis capabilities.

The fourth and final facility, the Bridgestone AHL Arena is scheduled for opening in March 2022.

That will be a barrier-free activity center providing access to sports for people of all ages and abilities. It is designed to promote a more diverse and inclusive society in alignment with Bridgestone’s Active Healthy Lifestyle (AHL) values and its worldwide Olympic and Paralympic partnerships.