Collaboration
AGC is a materials manufacturer engaged in a wide range of businesses, including electronics, chemicals, and ceramics, in addition to the glass business on which it was founded. Over the 110 years since its establishment, AGC has combined various technologies cultivated in a range of fields and has provided new functions and value to people's lives in collaboration with leading companies in each era. With the speed of social change becoming faster and faster, materials development also needs to accelerate to keep pace. From our base in AO, we will continue to create new values through collaboration with the world outside AGC.
Collaboration #5: Think Together x AGC
AGC's “smart electro-thermal defogging glass” has been adopted for the front windshields of Green Slow Mobility*1 buses (eCOM-10, a low-speed electric bus manufactured by Think Together Co., Ltd.), which will start operation on March 27, 2023 in Noboribetsu City, Hokkaido. This was achieved through co-creation activities with Think Together, a venture that develops low-speed electric buses, low-speed two-seater EVs, etc.
(eCOM-10 bus manufactured by Think Together)
Contributing to new mobility for regional revitalization of the Noboribetsu Onsen (hot spring) area
This co-creation activity is an initiative for the development of Green Slow Mobility, which is planned to be operated to create a sustainable tourist destination under the “Noboribetsu Onsen DX/Green Transformation Concept.” This is a project eligible for a grant under the Japanese government’s “Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation”*2.
In June 2022, AGC started “co-creation activities” with Think Together, based on their common ambition to “explore new needs for next-generation mobility to solve future social issues and realize a sustainable society”. The new “smart electro-thermal defogging glass” was adopted to solve issues in the operation of Green Slow Mobility in cold-weather regions.
“Smart electro-thermal defogging glass” features a temperature/humidity sensor installed on the interior side of the front windshield that is linked to the anti-fog and de-icing mode. This enables automatic control of electric heat from an exceptionally thin and inconspicuous conductive wire sealed inside the laminated glass. As a result, it is possible to minimize power consumption.
The AGC Group is promoting open innovation “co-creation activities” toward the realization of its “Vision 2025”. By anticipating changes in society and fusing internal and external technologies, AGC will accelerate its development and provide new functions in a timely manner.
- 1 Green Slow Mobility: A collective term for small mobility services that using low-speed electric vehicles that drive on public roads at under 20 km per hour and includes the vehicles themselves.
- 2 Vision for a Digital Garden City Nation: A basic policy toward a sustainable society pursued by the “Solving challenges in rural areas through digital implementation and realizing an enriched life where no one is left behind and, everyone can enjoy the benefits of digital technologies”.
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