14. Oktober 2015 Japanische Unternehmensdelegation zu Gast in der Life Science Nord Region

Am 20. November 2015 wird eine japanische Unternehmensdelegation aus Kobe für ein Business Matchmaking zu Gast in Hamburg sein. Für Life Science Unternehmen aus Norddeutschland bietet dieser Besuch eine Gelegenheit, Kontakte zu knüpfen und Wissenswertes über die Japanische Life Science Branche zu erfahren. Zwischen dem Clustermanagement für Life Sciences in Kobe (FBRI Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation) und Life Science Nord besteht ein reger Austauschmit der Zielsetzung, Unternehmen aus beiden Regionen miteinander zu vernetzen. Dr. Osugi, Senior Manager der FBRI, im Interview über Japans Life Science Branche, Herausforderungen und Zukunftsvisionen. (Hinweis: Das Interview ist in einer gekürzten Fassung erschienen im aktuellen Life Science Nord Magazin) 1. What is your motivation to campaign for life sciences?
In 1995, Kobe was devastated by a massive earthquake called "Hanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake" causing huge damages of 6.9 trillion yen and we suffered no less than 4,600 loss of lives. In order to go beyond the sorrow and move ahead, we started "Kobe Medical Industry Development Project" to revitalize Kobe's economy, to promote projects related to people's life and health protection in 1998. Since Japan is facing serious issues with the declining birth rate and aging population, we believe that the innovative technologies in life sciences field, such as human health and the related projects overcome the aging problems and contribute to the world healthcare. 2. Please describe the future challenges for the life science sector in Japan
We are aiming to promote the innovation in our cluster through the collaboration and integration among national research institutes such as Riken, highly specialized hospitals such as Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation (IBRI) and Kobe City General Hospital, Japanese big pharmaceutical company like Daiichi-Sankyo, Eizai, and other global company like Sony, Panasonic, and Teijin etc. It would be the key and of significant importance to not only attract them but also collaborate and integrate with each other, and what is more, share with especially Asian countries the cutting-edge technologies born here in Kobe. We have several big national projects related to regenerative medicine with iPS and ES cells in Japan. Kobe is also promoting the core projects about the regenerated medicine, Cell/Bio therapy in various therapeutic areas, and many research-based SMEs are supporting the core projects in Kobe. We should promote the collaboration with German state-of-the art technologies to establish the innovative technologies in these projects. 3. Which areas of activity are coordinated by the FBRI?
As a core institution of the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster, FBRI has adopted the following basic principles aiming for promoting research and development, assisting corporate activities and contributing to the promotion of general public health:
1) Research and development FBRI shall conduct translational research to bring achievements in basic research into clinical applications on the basis of high ethical standards, legitimate scientific rationality, and bold creativity.
2) Research assistance FBRI shall endeavour to develop and proliferate new medical technologies by assisting medical research, especially translational research, both in Japan and abroad, based on the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster.
3) Public health support FBRI shall support the general public to allow them to live healthy lives, and strive to actively provide them with leading-edge medical therapies. 4. Imagine the possibility to get access to unlimited funds. Which business Idea would you like to implement? 　
To conduct clinical studies is costly and one of the most difficult steps in the development of the medical related products. With unlimited funds, we would accelerate the cycle of incubation and conduct clinical studies and trials in our projects as much as we could, that may lead to enhance the efficiency of onsite techniques in hospital and patients' QOL. 5. Is there a symbol that comes to your mind when you think about Japanese-German cooperation?
We are planning to collaborate with Life Science Nord regarding the creation of innovative products notably in the field of both medical device and IVD development technologies. It would be great if this integration of both clusters could come to be the first and symbolic German-Japanese cooperation for the future life science technologies development on a global basis. This is my personal opinion, but the image of soccer (football) came to my mind when I thought about German-Japanese cooperation. Soccer is very popular in Japan and Europe, and we know that Oliver Kahn was the best gaolkeeper in the world. Shinji Kagawa is one of the best soccer players in Japan, was playing in Borussia Dortmund, and was born in Kobe. I believe that our collaboration would lead to great progress of innovative technologies in life sciences. 6. Which trade shows are most important for foreign companies if they intend to enter the Japanese market?
MEDTEC, Biotech, Bio Japan and Medical Japan would be recommendable exhibitions for foreign companies if they would like to build a wide range of networks with Japanese major players in the life science field. 7. What are your milestones for the next three years?
We have just achieved the target of 300 medical-related companies advance to the cluster. Although we are now putting the next vision for 2020 together, we would aim for the following items:
1) Promoting hospital concentration called "medical cluster",
2) Accelerating the application and industrialization of regenerative medicine, tissue engineering and medical device technologies, 3) Attracting more pharmaceutical companies for innovative drug discoveries,
4) Creating the rehabilitation- and robotics-related industry. For the RIT program, this year (the first year): German/Japanese companies will find appropriate counterparts through business matching. The second year: these companies conduct collaborative research/development and prepare regulatory issues. The third year: we are expecting that the innovative medical devices/tools, diagnostic reagents and new drugs will be on the market globally.