Shaping the future through product innovation
By Suat Ozsoy
With its forward-thinking vision, South Africa is one of the world’s most dynamic markets for technology innovation, offering industry players exceptional growth opportunities.
In this highly competitive landscape, companies must continuously come up with bold solutions to evolve their offerings if they want to maintain market leadership.
Innovation isn’t just about adding features; it’s about creating new experiences, addressing unmet needs, and redefining what’s possible.
It’s the driving force behind progress, shaping industries, redefining possibilities, and improving lives.
Technology evolves at a rapid pace, so innovation is vital for companies to stay relevant, competitive, and impactful.
At Epson, everything we do is with our mission in mind – to enrich lives and help create a better world through efficient, compact and precise innovation. This dedication is exemplified in our pioneering advancements, such as the 3-chip LCD (3LCD) projectors that offer vivid, natural colours that are gentle on the eyes, energy-efficient, and feature unmatched reliability for years of consistent performance.
And in 2010, we revolutionised the printing industry with EcoTank printers, a game-changing, cartridge-free solution featuring refillable ink tanks.
This innovation reduces plastic waste by eliminating the need for disposable ink cartridges and offers significant cost savings – up to ninety percent on ink cost – while providing enough ink for up to three years from the start.
This prevents millions of pounds of plastic from reaching landfills, making it a more sustainable choice for customers both environmentally and economically.
Market competition, rapid technological advancements, and shifting consumer expectations are all key drivers of product innovation.
To stay ahead of the curve, companies must embrace emerging technologies, such as AI, and stay close to their customers.
They also need to invest in research and development (R&D) and foster a culture of innovation across their organisations.
However, businesses often face certain common challenges when trying to innovate, such as resource constraints, risk aversion, and market resistance to change.
These obstacles can be overcome with a strong innovation strategy, leadership buy-in, and a willingness to take calculated risks.
At Epson META-CWA, our mission is to deliver creative technology products that better serve our customers, making innovation a top priority.
Our commitment to creativity and challenge fuels our desire to exceed expectations.
Globally, Epson invests around €1.14 million into R&D daily and over €770 million to further sustainable innovation and become carbon-negative and underground resource-free by 2050.
The results speak for themselves.
This year, Epson has been honoured with multiple awards at the 2024 Red Dot Design Awards, including a prestigious Best of the Best Awards in the Product Design Category for designs that enrich people’s lives and society.
Our focus on innovation is essential for reaching our long-term goals, not only for our customers but also for our planet.
Our Japanese roots are grounded in a strong tradition of making exceptional products from finite resources by adhering to our joint philosophies of Sho-Sho-Sei (compact, precise, and efficient) and Monozukuri (the art and science of manufacturing).
We have embraced sustainability as the cornerstone of our product innovation strategy, overcoming challenges related to environmental impact and meeting consumer demand for eco-conscious technology solutions.
Epson’s Heat-Free inkjet printers, powered by our MicroPiezo technology, reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions by up to 83% compared to laser technology.
By eliminating heat from the ink injection process, this innovation cuts energy use, enhances reliability, and accelerates print speeds. Heat-Free technology also minimises waste and enables high-quality printing on diverse materials, setting new standards for sustainable and efficient printing in homes and businesses.
Overall, our products are designed to meet the needs of all our customers - individuals and businesses alike - while helping them align with their sustainability objectives.
Recently, we received a Platinum rating for sustainability from EcoVadis, placing us among the top 1% of companies in our industry worldwide. We are proud that our customers share our commitment to building a healthier environment.
We also actively pursue open innovation, collaborating with other companies and research organisations to accelerate new value creation. We firmly believe in the power of innovation to enrich people’s lives and help create a better world; that’s why we are constantly reimagining what technology can do for consumers, businesses, and the planet.
To remain competitive, companies must adopt a forward-thinking mindset that treats innovation as an ongoing process, driven by customer needs and technological advances. Only those that prioritise product innovation will lead the way in shaping the future.
Suat Ozsoy is the Vice President for Commercial Operations at Epson META-CW Asia.
BUSINESS REPORT