Community
Responsibility to the CommunityContributing to the local community through our corporate activities
Being always mindful of our responsibility to the community in everything we do is an essential part of Merck’s corporate culture. It is a responsibility that reaches beyond our normal business activities, and demands that we make our contribution to the creation of a brighter future.
Our activities
- Carrying on from 2009, Merck hosted a 3-day work experience program which sponsored three junior high school students in the region for a visit to the Merck Atsugi Site (Aikawa-machi, Aiko-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture). The students studied the basic structure of liquid crystal displays (LCD), which are used for TVs, cell phones, and portable devices, and got a chance to try their hand at making simplified LC panels. This work experience program has been offered since 2006 for 2nd year students at junior high schools in Aikawa town, and the Atsugi Site has participated in the program as a part of its regional interaction activities.
- Merck donated 500,000 yen in disaster relief for the victims of an earthquake that hit Quinghai, China in May.
- Merck invited 39 students from Fukushima Prefectural Nakoso Technical High School to the Onahama Plant, located in Iwaki, Fukushima, for a plant visit in June. The students visited the production lines for pigments and learned that our pearl pigments are used for a wide variety of products such as automobile coatings, cell phones, and shampoo.
- As a part of the PASCH Project that Merck joined in 2009, we participated in the Schnitzeljagd project, a social studies project in German, in July. We sponsored students from four partner senior high schools in Japan to support education.
PASCH official website: http://www.goethe.de/ins/jp/lp/lhr/isp/jaindex.htm - Merck provided pH indicator strips (non-bleeding) for use in 1st-year chemistry classes at Dokkyo Senior High School in October. Merck pH indicators are excellent in operability and safety for students, and the color contrast is very clear; therefore, they are easy to read. During the experiment, students put some drops of sodium hydroxide into hydrochloric acid to de-acidify and tested the pH using the strips. Merck participated in this program as a part of the PASCH Project. Merck provided products to all participants.
- For five days in January, we held a work experience program at Atsugi site (Aikawa, Kanagawa Prefecture) for six junior high school students from a nearby school. The program was proposed by the local government, and its objective is to give the young people some knowledge and experiences they can use when they join the working world. They leant about the basic construction of liquid crystal displays for TVs, mobile telephones and other devices, and tried their hand at making some simple liquid crystal panels. They experienced the joy of making something with their own hands, and also understood the importance of quality control.
- Merck presented the 2nd Merck Award for Young Biochemistry Researchers to encourage creative research activities by young researchers during a meeting of the Young Researchers Society for Biochemistry held in Kobe in August. Three excellent scientists were selected among 14 applicants to receive the awards.
- Merck donated 500,000 yen in disaster relief for the victims of the typhoon that hit Kaohsiung, located in the southern part of Taiwan, in August.
- Merck held an exhibition of its involvement in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry, one of the major industries in Germany, at Dokkyo Junior & Senior High School, which is a member of the PASCH Project (Schools Partners for Future) sponsored by the Goethe Institut.
PASCH official website: http://www.goethe.de/ins/jp/lp/lhr/isp/jaindex.htm - Merck pigment was used to paint a 5m-tall giant gorilla statue placed at America-Tei, a beef steak restaurant next to the Onahama Plant (Iwaki, Fukushima), which serves as a research, development, and production base for pigments. Merck is very proud that its pigments were used to paint a regional symbol that is so loved by local residents. It was also a great chance for Merck to increase recognition of the plant, which we believe deepened our relationship with the region.
- Merck co-sponsored the Gottfried Wagener Award, an innovation award founded for the purpose of promoting industry-university collaboration between Germany and Japan. This award is presented to young researchers in Japan who have achieved innovative and creative research results. Merck supports excellent research in science and technology in Japan through this activity.
Click here for the official GIA website: http://www.german-innovation-award.jp/
- We joined a project led by the German embassy to produce an informative CD-ROM introducing German culture, business and places of interest to Japanese schoolchildren. The embassy produced CD-ROMs, which were distributed free of charge to 3,500 junior high schools around the country.
- In August we held a day-long summer school at a high school in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, the home of our Onahama Factory, during which 32 students of the school took part in an experimental DNA extraction and evaluation laboratory. Merck provided the teachers through an educational intermediary, and also the chemical reagents and the lab-wear used in the experiments. The students worked with some of the latest biotechnologies available, testing hypotheses with scientific rigor in a highly practical session. The summer school was very successful in stimulating the young people’s awareness and interest in science.
- We established the Merck Award in 2008 with the objective of raising the standard of research in the life sciences by providing support for scientists with potential, to pursue innovative research. The award is intended for young people in university or post-doctoral research. Nineteen researchers applied during the first year of the award, and the presentations to the two winners were made at the summer school of the Society of Young Biochemistry Researchers.
- Since establishing the factory at Onahama (Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture) in 1984, Merck employees have enthusiastically participated in clean up and beautification projects led by the city twice a year, such as weeding the roadside plants in and around the factory, and keeping the roads free of litter and earth sediment.
