Value Creation through Intellectual Property and Intangible Assets

Basic Approach

The DeNA Group promotes initiatives based on a mid to long term perspective, starting from our mission, vision, and values—including our mission to deliver "We delight people beyond their wildest dreams."—and aligning our materiality with our growth strategy (Mid term Management Plan).

Under this approach, we have identified "Strengthening technology and adapting to & driving new technology" and "Providing Opportunities and Challenges to Leverage Diversity" as materiality issues, and we aim to create value through intellectual property and intangible assets.

In promoting these materiality issues, all officers and employees of the Group comply with the "DeNA Group Code of Conduct," which serves as a guideline for business activities. The Code stipulates that tangible and intangible company assets, including intellectual property, shall be used only with legitimate authority and for legitimate purposes, and that they shall be appropriately managed and preserved to maintain their value. With this as our fundamental stance, we promote initiatives related to intellectual property and intangible assets.

The driving force behind the Group's sustainable growth and enhancement of corporate value is the "intellectual property and intangible assets"—comprising technology, brands, data, and the human resources and organizational culture that create businesses—centered on "entertainment," which we have cultivated since our founding.

By viewing these intangible assets as integral to our business strategy and expanding and applying them across diverse business areas, we create unique customer value characteristic of the DeNA Group and strengthen our business competitiveness.

At the same time, we recognize that it is an important responsibility as a company to respect the legitimate intellectual property rights of others and to conduct fair business activities in compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Through these activities, we will achieve sustainable growth based on trust from society and contribute to the development of society as a whole.

Strategy

Based on our "Basic Approach," the DeNA Group promotes an intellectual property strategy centered on the following three pillars:

Construction and Reorganization of an IP Portfolio to Maximize Business Competitiveness

Considering the characteristics of each business area, we continuously build and reorganize an IP portfolio to establish and maintain business superiority. In addition to protecting technology through intellectual property rights, we strategically combine intangible assets such as brands, content, and expertise cultivated through business operations to pursue competitiveness that is difficult to emulate.

Strategic Utilization of Data and AI Technology

We position the diverse data obtained through our businesses as important management assets. After ensuring thorough privacy protection and information security, we utilize AI technology and other means to create new customer value and improve service quality. This further accelerates our data-driven business operations.

Privacy Policy

Information Security

AI Policy

Value Co-creation through Open Innovation

Industry-Academia Collaboration
In addition to utilizing our own intellectual assets, we actively incorporate excellent technologies and ideas from universities, research institutions, startups, and partner companies. Specifically, we promote a wide range of collaborations, including joint research in healthcare and AI, academic collaboration in the live streaming business (such as Pococha), and collaboration with local municipalities and communities through our sports and smart city businesses ( machizukuri (community development)). By combining diverse expertise and networks in each business area, we aim to create new business opportunities and solve social issues.

Corporate Site

News

Furthermore, under the theme "For & With Startups," the DeNA Group aims to build an ecosystem that produces global startups from Japan. Utilizing our intangible assets, such as experience and expertise in launching businesses, we provide support through the independent venture capital firm "Delight Ventures" and actively promote direct investment and capital/business alliances from DeNA itself. Beyond multifaceted "Support (For)" through funding and expertise, we promote "Co-creation (With)" in cutting-edge technology fields such as AI, aiming to jointly create new business opportunities as equal partners.

Implementation Structure

The Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing whether the construction and execution of the intellectual property and intangible assets strategy are being carried out effectively for the sustainable value creation of the Group. On the execution side, under the policies of the Management Meeting and other bodies, we promote the company-wide and effective execution of the strategy, centered on teams with specialized knowledge and expertise.

Intellectual Property Group works closely with each business department and serves as a hub for promoting the strategy across the entire company. Furthermore, we promote compliance including intellectual property with a high sense of ethics and responsibility, and contribute to the enhancement of corporate value by building a highly effective and transparent governance system for important policies, activity status, and risks related to intellectual property.

We believe that the results of utilizing these intellectual properties and intangible assets will manifest through the growth and improved competitiveness of the business as a whole. Therefore, in its oversight, the Board of Directors comprehensively verifies the effectiveness of these efforts as an integral part of assessing the progress of the Mid term Management Plan and each business strategy.

Going forward, through these activities, we intend to further clarify the relationship between intellectual property/intangible assets and the enhancement of corporate value, leading to constructive dialogue with shareholders, investors, and other stakeholders.

Key Initiatives

Under the strategy and governance structure described above, we are promoting the following initiatives:

Intellectual Property Activities Linked to Business
Intellectual property specialists are involved from the early stages of planning and R&D for each business to promote the discovery of inventions, acquisition of rights, and the prevention and resolution of IP-related troubles. In particular, we are strengthening our patent portfolio in functions and core technologies that lead to competitive advantages, such as AI-related technologies.
DeNA Engineering
Technology & Manufacturing

Maintaining and Improving Brand Value
To protect the brand value of service brands, game titles, and characters developed by the DeNA Group, we ensure the acquisition and maintenance of trademark rights both in Japan and overseas. We also have a policy of taking strict measures, including legal action if necessary, against counterfeit products and infringement activities.

Encouraging Invention and Creation (Investment in Human Capital)
To maximize the creativity of our "human resources (human capital)," which is the source of our intellectual assets, we operate an incentive system for outstanding inventions and creations. We also focus on cultivating and acquiring talent in the AI field, which is the core of our growth strategy. This includes the introduction of the "DARS (DeNA AI Readiness Score)" system to visualize the AI utilization level of each engineer and link it to goal setting, as well as maintaining an environment where many "Kagglers"—who have world-class achievements on international data science platforms—can thrive.
Press Release: Introduction of DeNA AI Readiness Score (DARS)
DeNA AI Kaggle

In addition to investment in these specialized fields, we strive to raise awareness of intellectual property among officers and employees through various training programs and to foster an organizational culture that welcomes innovation.
With Our Employees