Environmental Research Institute
Tokyo-based private firm founded 1986 selling the Super Series — ~11 deterministic numerical-simulation packages for noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind, solar, and terrain/GIS environmental impact assessment — primarily to Japanese environmental consultants, construction firms, and government agencies, via direct license sales plus calculation outsourcing.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1986
- HeadquartersOsaka, Japan
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Environmental Research Institute does
Environmental Research Institute Co., Ltd. (ERI) is a Tokyo-based private company founded in 1986 that develops and sells the "Super Series" — a suite of approximately 11 specialized desktop software packages for environmental impact assessment. The product line covers noise (Super NOISE(H), ASJ/CNEL/JEA-compliant road-traffic, rail, plant, construction, and wind-farm noise models), air pollution (Super AQP for ambient and chimney emissions, dust prediction), vibration (Super VIBRATION for construction and traffic-induced vibration), wind and solar resource and impact modeling (Super WINDS, Super SOLAR, Wind-Solar Suite), and terrain/GIS tooling (Super TERRAIN, Super GIS, multiple 3D viewers). The underlying technology is deterministic numerical simulation based on ISO 9613-2:2024, ASJ RTN-Model 2023, NEDO MESM, CNEL/JEA, and other authoritative environmental standards, rather than machine-learning or AI. The company has additionally run national-scale advocacy and survey work, including a 60,000+-participant pine-needle dioxin monitoring program, and operates a calculation outsourcing service for customers lacking internal capacity.
ERI monetizes through direct sales of one-time software licenses bundled with approximately three years of free support and monthly data/parameter updates, supplemented by paid calculation outsourcing services. Pricing is contact-based rather than listed. The go-to-market is direct sales with localized Japanese-language materials targeted at four identifiable customer segments: environmental consulting firms, construction and infrastructure companies, government administrative bodies (cited footprint of 48 admin-system adopters), and research institutions alongside renewable-energy operators. No headcount, revenue, or external funding is disclosed; the firm carries ¥20 million of registered capital and is led by CEO Komichi Ikeda following a 2012 transition from co-founder Teiichi Aoyama, who remains an adviser.
The company's competitive posture is that of a long-tenured niche specialist: software development traces back to 1985, and the same engineering team has continuously maintained the codebase through successive standard revisions, locking in workflow continuity for installed customers. Co-marketing partnerships with Bureau Veritas Canada (formerly Maxxam Analytics, established 1998) connect the software with accredited environmental laboratory testing, but the firm shows no visible M&A, geographic expansion beyond Japan, or external capital activity.
Environmental Research Institute firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Environmental Research Institute
- Legal name
- 株式会社 環境総合研究所
- Website
- https://eri.co.jp
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1986
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Tokyo-based private firm founded 1986 selling the Super Series — ~11 deterministic numerical-simulation packages for noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind, solar, and terrain/GIS environmental impact assessment — primarily to Japanese environmental consultants, construction firms, and government agencies, via direct license sales plus calculation outsourcing.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Environmental Research Institute industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Environmental Impact Assessment Software
- NAICS
- Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Software Publishers (51321), Engineering Services (541330)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)
- akta.pro primary industry
- EIA/ESIA Documentation & Technical Studies (Air/Water/Noise/Traffic) (EUAHAAAC)
Keywords
Where Environmental Research Institute is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Osaka
- HQ country
- Japan
- HQ region
- Asia
Offices1 record
Markets served
Environmental Research Institute business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Environmental Impact Prediction Software (Super Series): Sale of environmental impact prediction software licenses (Super Series) for environmental assessment and environmental countermeasure studies. Software covers noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind power, solar PV, and terrain/GIS. Includes 3-year free support and monthly updated versions.
- Environmental Impact Prediction Calculation Outsourcing Service: Commissioned calculation services for noise, air, vibration, dust, wind power, solar, and wind damage predictions. Used for one-off projects, short lead time projects, complex conditions, and current reproduction with future prediction. Available regardless of whether customer owns Super Series software.
- Environmental Planning and Policy Support: Services supporting environmental policy and system planning for national government and local municipalities, including basic surveys, environmental plan development, and environmental advocacy services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Direct sales via inquiry and quotation - no public pricing |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Environmental Research Institute product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Environmental Research Institute develops and sells the Super Series, a Windows-based suite of environmental impact prediction software covering noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind power, solar photovoltaic reflection, and terrain/GIS. The company also provides commissioned calculation outsourcing services for one-off or short-deadline environmental impact predictions, as well as wind environment simulation and environmental planning/policy support consulting for government agencies. Customers are environmental consulting firms, construction companies, government agencies, and research institutions across Japan.
Product overview
Environmental Research Institute (ERI) offers the Super Series — a suite of Windows desktop environmental impact prediction software products and a calculation outsourcing service. The portfolio spans 11 named software products across six environmental domains (noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind/renewable energy, and terrain/GIS), plus a consulting calculation service. The products share a common operating system, data format, and UI philosophy, enabling cross-product data exchange (e.g., terrain data from Super SPLINE/GIS is consumed by all prediction products; road link data from Super NOISE(H) is read by Super HIWAY, Super DUST(H), and Super VIB(H)). Products cover both construction/industrial sources and transportation sources, and are used in Japanese environmental impact assessment (環境アセスメント/環境影響評価) contexts. The calculation outsourcing service provides on-demand predictions using Super Series for clients who prefer not to purchase software.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Superシリーズ (Super Series): Windows用の環境影響予測ソフトウェア群。騒音予測、大気汚染予測、振動予測、降下ばいじん予測、風力発電・太陽光発電影響予測などに対応する。Super NOISE(P)、Super NOISE(H)、Super NOISE(W)、Super SOLAR、Super AIR、Super HIWAY、Super DUST(P)、Super DUST(H)、Super VIB(P)、Super VIB(H)、Super SPLINE/GISを含む。
- Super NOISE(P)
- Super NOISE(H)
- Super NOISE(W)
- Super SOLAR
- Super AIR
- Super HIWAY
- Super DUST(P)
- Super DUST(H)
- Super VIB(P)
- Super VIB(H)
- Super SPLINE/GIS
- 環境影響予測 計算受託サービス
- 環境アドボカシー
Products and services
- Super NOISE(P)
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 98 environmental advocacy activities conducted since founding, supporting residents, NGOs, and communities in environmental disputes
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Environmental Research Institute
Customer profileNamed customers9 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Environmental Research Institute technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability7 records
Feature7 records
Environmental Research Institute partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Bureau Veritas Canada (formerly Maxxam Analytics Inc.)coreTechnical and business partnership with Bureau Veritas Canada (formerly Maxxam Analytics Inc.), based in Ontario, Canada (Mississauga and Burlington). Partnership provides international-standard chemical substance analysis services (dioxins, PCBs, heavy metals, PAHs, etc.) using EPA and Environment Canada analytical methods. ERI served as the Japanese representative and coordinated the national pine needle dioxin monitoring survey involving over 60,000 citizens. Maxxam Analytics was rebranded as Bureau Veritas Canada in June 2019.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Environmental Research Institute competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS provides broad engineering simulation software including computational fluid dynamics (Fluent) used for air dispersion and wind environment modeling. It is a broad incumbent in engineering simulation, overlapping with ERI's physics-based prediction products at a much larger scale and with a global customer base.
- Brüel & Kjær (HBK): Brüel & Kjær (now part of Hottinger Brüel & Kjær) is a global leader in noise and vibration measurement instrumentation and software. While much larger and broader in scope, it overlaps with ERI's Super NOISE and Super VIB product lines in environmental noise prediction for industrial and transportation sources.
- ESI Group: ESI Group provides virtual prototyping and simulation software used across manufacturing and environmental applications including acoustics and fluid dynamics. Comparable to ERI as a broad simulation-software incumbent serving engineering customers with predictive modeling tooling.
- Shimizu Corporation (Environmental Division): Shimizu Corporation is a major Japanese general contractor with an in-house environmental impact assessment capability serving its own construction projects. Comparable to ERI as a broad incumbent in Japanese EIA work, though Shimizu's EIA unit primarily serves internal project needs rather than external consulting clients.
- ESRI (Esri): Esri's ArcGIS platform is the dominant GIS platform used in environmental assessment and planning workflows globally. Comparable to ERI as an enabling infrastructure layer for spatial environmental analysis — Esri's GIS underpins much of the same terrain and spatial-data work that ERI's Super SPLINE/GIS addresses.
Direct peers
- SoundPLAN: SoundPLAN is a German noise and air pollution prediction software vendor — directly comparable to ERI's Super NOISE family and broader Super Series. It serves the same EIA consulting use case (industrial, road traffic, rail, wind turbine noise prediction) with comparable physics-based propagation models, making it the closest international peer to ERI.
- CTI Engineering Co., Ltd. CTI Engineering is a major Japanese engineering consultancy that conducts environmental impact assessments for infrastructure projects. It overlaps with ERI on the consulting services side (environmental planning and simulation contracts) and represents both a customer and a potential competitor in Japan's EIA services market.
- BREEZE Software (Trinity Consultants): BREEZE Software, now part of Trinity Consultants, provides air dispersion and noise modeling software (BREEZE AERMOD, BREEZE Noise) widely used in U.S. EIA work. It directly competes with ERI's Super AIR, Super HIWAY, and Super NOISE products in the environmental impact prediction software category.
- IDEA Consultants, Inc. IDEA Consultants is a Japanese environmental and infrastructure consulting firm providing environmental impact assessment, measurement, and analysis services. It is comparable to ERI on the consulting-services dimension (government planning contracts, environmental surveys, simulation work) within the Japanese market.
- Katahira & Engineers International: Katahira & Engineers International is a Japanese engineering consultancy with environmental and infrastructure assessment capabilities. It overlaps with ERI in serving Japanese government and construction clients with environmental planning and impact evaluation work.
Market position
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Environmental Research Institute financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Environmental Research Institute leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Environmental Research Institute funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Environmental Research Institute M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Environmental Research Institute
What does Environmental Research Institute do?
Environmental Research Institute develops and sells the Super Series, a Windows-based suite of environmental impact prediction software covering noise, air pollution, vibration, dust, wind power, solar photovoltaic reflection, and terrain/GIS. The company also provides commissioned calculation outsourcing services for one-off or short-deadline environmental impact predictions, as well as wind environment simulation and environmental planning/policy support consulting for government agencies. Customers are environmental consulting firms, construction companies, government agencies, and research institutions across Japan.
Is Environmental Research Institute a public or private company?
Environmental Research Institute is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Environmental Research Institute founded?
Environmental Research Institute was founded in 1986. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Environmental Research Institute based?
Environmental Research Institute is headquartered in Osaka, Japan, in the Asia region.
How does Environmental Research Institute make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Environmental Impact Prediction Software (Super Series) is the primary driver. The others are environmental Impact Prediction Calculation Outsourcing Service and environmental Planning and Policy Support.
Who are Environmental Research Institute's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are ANSYS, Inc., Brüel & Kjær (HBK), ESI Group, Shimizu Corporation (Environmental Division) and ESRI (Esri). Direct peers are SoundPLAN, CTI Engineering Co., Ltd., BREEZE Software (Trinity Consultants), IDEA Consultants, Inc. and Katahira & Engineers International.
Does Environmental Research Institute have an API?
No public API is recorded for Environmental Research Institute.
What industry is Environmental Research Institute in?
Environmental Research Institute's product category is Environmental Impact Assessment Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAHAAAC, EIA/ESIA Documentation & Technical Studies (Air/Water/Noise/Traffic). Its NAICS code is 541620 and its SIC code is 8731.