Identifying Materiality (Important Issues that should be Prioritized)

In the over 145 years since Shimadzu was founded, the company has consistently contributed to solving societal challenges in each era. Today, with the increasing globalization of society and economies, increasing severity of climate change, and other factors, the world is facing an even broader range of societal challenges while new issues continue to emerge one after another.

Accordingly, in addition to recognizing how such challenges impact society, the economy, and Shimadzu, the Shimadzu Group has performed a materiality assessment to identify important issues that should be prioritized based on our CSR Charter that we adopted in 2017. For our environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities, we determined materiality based on two factors. One is solving the challenges of society through business and the other is engaging in activities as a responsible member of society. In the area of solving the challenges in society through business, we aim to solve these by deploying and expanding our business in four growth areas—healthcare, materials, infrastructure, and environmental/energy fields.

Creating shared value is equal to strategic corporate social responsibility (CSV = strategic CSR), and starting in FY 2020, the medium-term management plan goes beyond solving existing customer challenges and seeks to nurture businesses that solve societal issues that are not yet apparent in the world.

Regarding engaging in activities as a member of society, we aim to strengthen our corporate infrastructure by implementing measures demanded by society throughout the entire business activity value chain and product life cycles. As part of fundamental CSR, that involves searching for ways to minimize internal and external risks and contribute to a wide range of stakeholders.

Process of Determining Materiality

We determined which SDGs to adopt based on materiality and relevance to our business areas by understanding megatrends for SDG-based societal challenges, confirming that we can make a contribution based on Shimadzu Group science and technology, and identifying measures we should implement with our management base. In the future, we will continue to revise that approach as necessary in response to changes in societal issues and feedback from our stakeholders.