16 Annual Report 2008 R&Dthe United States. Toagosei is also a member of the Technology Research Association for Advanced Display Materials (TRADIM), and is in charge of developing adhesives for use with next-generation mobile terminal displays. The research conducted in collaboration with other companies under this project is progressing smoothly. Our subsidiary Aron Ever-Grip Ltd. undertakes part of our overall R&D efforts in the field of adhesives. The development of inorganic functional products has hitherto been undertaken by the Commodity Chemicals Laboratory, the New Materials Laboratory, and subsidiary Tsurumi Soda Co., Ltd. In the near future, we plan to consolidate development activities to Tsurumi Soda’s Research Division to reinforce the Group’s development capabilities in high-purity inorganic material products. The Commodity Chemicals Laboratory has been in charge of tests on gas diffusion electrodes for chlor-alkali electrolysis, which have been jointly carried out with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and Kaneka Corporation. The tests have shown that this method can reduce power consumption by one-third compared with the conventional ion-exchange membrane method. We expect the new method to be widely adopted. The staff of the New Materials Laboratory are currently engaged in the development of ion exchangers, antibacterial agents, deodorants, and materials used in electronics. In August 2008, we launched a new antiallergy agent AlleRemove ZTP-170, which is an organic / inorganic-hybrid compound. Toagosei’s major subsidiary Aron Kasei Co., Ltd. engages in the development of plastic piping products employing the Company’s high-level expertise in plastics processing. The company also develops plastic Effective R&D is crucial to the development of the Toagosei Group. We are currently making utmost efforts to achieve the goals under its three-year medium-term management plan “All Toa 2010,” which commenced last year. We are also engaging in basic research from the long-term perspective to develop new businesses. R&D involved in current businesses Our top-priority high-value-added products include downstream acrylic products, UV-curable resins, adhesives, and inorganic functional products. R&D into these products is assisted by the Corporate Research and Development Department’s Base Technology Center and the Research Support Group, and collaboration is received from Toagosei Group companies. For acrylic products, the Macromolecular Material Research Laboratory conducts development of new products in our Arufon series of non-solvent acrylic polymers, which incorporate our uniform functional oligomer technology, as well as products created by graft polymerization. The laboratory also conducts development of construction materials, dispersants, adhesives, and mono-disperse particles. MT AquaPolymer, Inc., a joint venture with Mitsui Chemicals Inc., conducts R&D into flocculants for water treatment. For the UV-curable resin Aronix and adhesives such as Aron Alpha, R&D is carried out at the Functional Materials Laboratory, to realize synergy between two lines. Aronix is used in coatings for cell phones, DVDs and so on. Aron Alpha is a consumer-use instant adhesive, and is sold under the name Krazy Glue in Nurturing New Business Seeds Research & Development