LINK-J Inaugural Symposium Held
for further innovation in the field of life sciences and creation of new industries

October 25, 2016
Life Science Innovation Network Japan, Inc.
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd.

Tokyo, Japan, October 25, 2016-Life Science Innovation Network Japan Inc. (LINK-J), an incorporated association founded by Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Mitsui Fudosan) and a group of volunteers from academia, held the LINK-J Inaugural Symposium on October 24, 2016 to commemorate its establishment.

With its base in the Nihonbashi area, where a number of pharmaceutical companies are clustered, LINK-J aims to promote open innovation in the field of life sciences through industry-academia-government cooperation. It will accelerate technological and human exchanges across the entire life science area, where all sciences are combined, ranging from medicine to science and further to engineering or new technologies, such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Inaugural Symposium was held as Part 3 of the first Industry-Academia-Government Regenerative Medicine Symposium, which was hosted in collaboration with the Japanese Society for Regenerative Medicine (JSRM) and Forum for Innovative Regenerative Medicine (FIRM), who are the representative organizations for academia and industries respectively in the area of regenerative medicine, one of the most promising areas in life sciences.

The 1st Industry-Academia-Government Regenerative Medicine Symposium began with opening remarks by Dr. Yoshiki Sawa, Dean of the Graduate School of Medicine/ Faculty of Medicine, Osaka University and Vice Chairman of the board of LINK-J, followed by a keynote lecture entitled “Updates on iPS Cells Research and Efforts Towards its Medical Applications” by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Director of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University and Member of the LINK-J Management Advisory Committee. Part 1 of the Symposium was led by JSRM under the theme of the Latest Research on Regenerative Medicine, with Part 2 by JSRM and FIRM under the theme of Industrialization of Regenerative Medicine. The Parts included lectures, panel discussions and group debates.

Part 3, the LINK-J Inaugural Symposium, started with speeches by Dr. Hideyuki Okano, Dean of Keio University School of Medicine and Chairman of the board of LINK-J, Mr. Masanobu Komoda, President and CEO of Mitsui Fudosan and Member of the LINK-J Management Advisory Committee, and Mr. Hiroto Izumi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister. It was followed by a presentation by Mr. Joe Panetta, President & CEO and Member of the Board of Directors of BIOCOM, an organization based in San Diego, California, USA, representing 800 member companies and institutions in the life sciences sector. After the presentation, a panel discussion, moderated by Mr. Mitsuru Miyata, Executive Leader Writer of Nikkei Business Publications Inc. (Nikkei BP), explored the issues in the practical application of the life sciences research and its outlook with the speakers of Dr. Takahiro Uchida, CEO of the Japanese Organization for Medical Device Development, Inc. (JOMDD), Mr. Jin Shiomura, President & CEO of Nobelpharma Co., Ltd. (Nobelpharma) and Mr. Keita Mori, CEO of SanBio Co, Ltd. (SanBio).

The social event that took place after the symposium had guest speakers of Mr. Uzumi Yoshida, Deputy Head of Chuo ward in Tokyo, Dr. Masashi Sugiyama, Director of the Center for Advanced Integrated Intelligence Research (AIP Center), RIKEN, and Mr. George Hara, Group Chairman of DEFTA Partners. In addition, Mr. Nobuteru Ishihara, Minister of the State for Economic and Fiscal Policy, also rushed to the event to give his congratulations to the inauguration of LINK-J. The AIP Center, who announced, on September 16, 2016, the opening of its research base in Nihonbashi 1-chome Mitsui Building, will develop world-leading, innovative AI platform technology and progress to applied research in the search for a wide range of ‘exits’ to other scientific areas and the real world under the project of the Advanced Integrated Intelligence Platform Project (AIP) - AI, Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber Security promoted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The field of life sciences is one of the major ‘exits’ in putting the AI research into practical use (See Dr. Masashi Sugiyama’s comment attached.) The day was attended by a total number of approx. 500, creating a successful gathering.

Dr. Yoshiki Sawa, Dean of the Graduate School of Medicine/ Faculty of Medicine, Osaka University and Vice Chairman of the board of LINK-J		Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, Director of CiRA, Kyoto University and Member of the LINK-J Management Advisory Committee
Dr. Hideyuki Okano, Dean of Keio University School of Medicine and Chairman of the board of LINK-J		Mr. Masanobu Komoda, President and CEO of Mitsui Fudosan and Member of the LINK-J Management Advisory Committee
Mr. Hiroto Izumi, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister		Mr. Joe Panetta, President & CEO and Member of Board of Directors of BIOCOM

(From left) Mr. Mori (SanBio), Mr. Shiomura (Nobelpharma), Mr. Uchida (Japanese Organization for Medical Device Development), and Mr. Miyata (Executive Leader Writer of Nikkei BP)

Life Science Innovation Network Japan, Inc. (LINK-J)

LINK-J is a general incorporated association established by Mitsui Fudosan and volunteers from academic circles. With its base in the Nihonbashi area, where a number of pharmaceutical companies are clustered, LINK-J aims to promote open innovation in the life science realm through industry-government-academia cooperation and extend support to the creation of new industries. Across the entire life science area, i.e., the area where all sciences are combined, ranging from medicine to science and further to engineering or new technologies, such as information and communication technology (ICT) or artificial intelligence (AI), it will accelerate interdisciplinary human and technological exchanges.

The Nihonbashi Life Science Base

Mitsui Fudosan has put in place the following life science bases in Nihonbashi:

Click map to enlarge

[Comment by Dr. Masashi Sugiyama, Director of the Center for Advanced Integrated Intelligence Research, RIKEN (Summary)]

Congratulations on the first Industry-Academia-Government Regenerative Medicine Symposium and the establishment of LINK-J. I am Sugiyama of RIKEN.

The Center for Advanced Integrated Intelligence Research, also called the AIP Center as we undertake the MEXT’s AIP Project, will set up a research base in Nihonbashi, Tokyo. The Project aims to develop AI programs and next-generation platform technologies and to research their wide applications in society in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the METI, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), etc.

When it comes to social applications, life sciences would come first and foremost, and we ourselves would like to conduct research related to life sciences. We are hoping to deepen the relationship with the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) through the cooperation in utilizing our image processing and medical analysis technologies.

Since Nihonbashi is now the home to a variety of life science organizations and companies, it is very symbolic for us to have a base in the area and we are very pleased with it. I feel that LINK-J will play an extremely important role in promoting interdisciplinary cooperation and would much appreciate their help in deepening the cooperation with those companies.

We are committed to contributing to the development of humanity through our cooperation across a wide spectrum of fields to make scientific breakthroughs.

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