Since its foundation, Toray has adhered to the philosophy that "R & D is the key to the Toray of tomorrow." With this in mind, the company has continually focused its efforts on research and technological development (R & TD), making the strengthening of basic research and fundamental technologies an important management issue, and has proceeded to create new technologies and technological areas. Toray also clearly distinguishes between its research activities and development activities, placing priority on highly innovative basic and exploratory research.