Showa Denko and Cinnamon Starts to Develop Database System Equipped with AI to Utilize Technical Documents
July 11, 2018
Showa Denko K.K.
Cinnamon Inc.
Showa Denko K.K. (SDK) (Tokyo: 4004) and Cinnamon Inc. (Cinnamon) has decided to jointly develop a database system equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) to utilize technical documents. This development program has been accredited as a project to be subsidized by the New Energy and Technology Development Organization (NEDO) as a part of NEDO’s “Program to Support Joint Development of AI Systems※.”
Technical documents accumulated by Japanese manufacturing industry contain a massive amount of knowledge. However, most of those documents are stored as data on paper. If we want to make the most of the technical knowledge of our forefathers and utilize them as a source of new value, we should convert “analog data” into “digital data” and store them on electronic databases. On the other hand, it is practically difficult to convert massive amount of data on paper into digital ones with handwork. Moreover, existing optical character reader (OCR) technology cannot read technical documents containing handwritten characters with enough accuracy. Thus it has been difficult for us to accurately convert technical documents accumulated as data on paper into digital data and store them on electronic databases.
This time, SDK and Cinnamon have agreed to jointly grapple with the above problem and will promote the development of a database system with the object of utilizing technical documents. The system will be equipped with AI-based automatic OCR technology to accurately digitize data on paper containing handwritten characters and highly convenient data search function. The two parties will aim to create an intensely practical database system through close cooperation between Cinnamon which has deep expertise and programming technology on AI and image analysis, and SDK which holds abundant real data (technical documents) that contain expertise in many fields including petrochemical, carbon, and aluminum products.
For the detail of NEDO’s “Program to Support Joint Development of AI Systems,” please refer to the following URL:
■Scheme for joint development
■A sample of handwritten document
【Outline of Showa Denko】
- Company name:
- Showa Denko K.K.
- Address:
- 13-9, Shiba Daimon 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Established:
- June 1939
- Representative:
- Kohei Morikawa, President and CEO
- Scope of business:
- Production and sale of organic/inorganic chemicals, ceramics, electronic materials, aluminum products, etc.
- URL
- /
【Outline of Cinnamon】
- Company name:
- Cinnamon Inc.
- Address:
- 6th floor, Higashi-azabu Building, 9-16, Higashi-azabu 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo
- Established:
- October 2016
- Representative:
- Miku Hirano, CEO
- Scope of business:
- Artificial intelligence products, Consulting on artificial intelligence
- URL
- http://www.cinnamon.is
For further information, contact:
Showa Denko K.K.
PR Office
(Phone: 81-3-5470-3235, Facsimile: 81-3-3431-6215)
Cinnamon Inc.
Person in charge of PR
(Phone: 81-3-6807-4091, Facsimile: 81-3-6807-4092,
E-mail: contact@cinnamon.is)
For further information, contact
Public Relations Group, Brand Communication Department