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X-ray vision

Rigaku creates Czech R&D center to expand European presence

By Claire Compton
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 18th, 2008 issue

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST
Pína is co-managing director of the lab, the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic.
An international X-ray company didn’t choose Prague for its first European outpost — Prague chose the company.
After a competitor declared bankruptcy, Rigaku Corporation took over its Prague offices and set up a research center that opened this month. The firm was quickly wooed by a lab already equipped and fully staffed for Rigaku’s research and development arm.
The opportunity, especially the talent that was there and ready to work, was “serendipitous” according to John McGill, who is a co-managing director of the lab along with Ladislav Pína.
Rigaku Innovative Technologies Europe (RITE) is the third outpost for the Tokyo-based firm, and provides an entry point to the European market between Japan and its other center in Auburn Hills, Michigan.  
“What we have now is the three legs of the research-and-development stool, with complete operations in three continents,” McGill said.  
Manufacturing and selling scientific instruments has become an increasingly global exercise, making it essential for Rigaku to open the European center, in the works for more than a year. RITE will also allow Rigaku to keep a closer eye on competitors that are crowding what is a cutthroat field, McGill said.  
For many, X-rays evoke broken bones or dentist visits. However, Rigaku’s X-rays are used for measuring the thickness of metal plates for quality control, probing the earth for precious metals at mining sites and exploring the depths of the universe from satellites.
The lab is the only one of its kind in the Czech Republic. Pína didn’t give a detailed explanation of its workings, saying the exact contents and equipment are proprietary. The lab will be devoted to research and development, including design and testing of products.  
“[The lab] is quite unique actually in the Czech Republic, although we are well known in the world,” he said.  
Though the company and its clients are global in almost every sense of the word, the majority of the 14 employees at RITE are locals, drawn from nearby academic institutions including Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Six of the employees hold Ph.D.s in physics and all have backgrounds in either physics or chemistry.  
The collective contacts and experience of the staff means that Rigaku will have a jump on collaborations with academia that are necessary for obtaining grants. Though McGill would not disclose which local institutions they’ve approached, he said Rigaku will be ready to announce the partnerships in the near future.   
“[Our] personal relationships with different academic centers through Central Europe are very strong, and we plan on using that,” he said.  
Outside the Ivory Tower, Rigaku has a long history with NASA and the European Space Agency, and McGill said he anticipates Rigaku will continue besting the competition in that sector. Rather than focus on specific markets, Rigaku will likely work with pan-European organizations and companies. Prague’s central location is ideal for those goals, McGill said.  
RITE aims to be a “profit center” rather than a “cost center,” a Rigaku organizational philosophy that encourages its various centers to fund themselves through grants and partnerships.  
“There will be a focus on the organization doing enough contracting and prototype-level production in order to be self-sufficient,” McGill said.  
The result is an interesting mix of academic research with a corporate environment that always has the competition in its sights. For Prague, the benefits of RITE won’t be just a world-class laboratory, but an opportunity for local academics to collaborate on research.  
“It’s not just a singular organization,” McGill said. “It has a broader benefit to the community.”

Claire Compton can be reached at ccompton@praguepost.com


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