Background

The “Compass to Healthy Life” Research Complex program proposed by RIKEN as the core organization, together with Hyogo Prefecture, the city of Kobe, Kyoto University, Kobe University, the University of Hyogo and 9 other universities and research institutions, and Hankyu Hanshin Holdings and 30 other private enterprises and organizations, has been accepted under the Research Complex program launched by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) in 2015 to establish world-leading regional research, development and testing hubs. The Research Complex program aims to bring together research institutions, private industry, universities and other organizations in a given region to create an ecosystem for promoting innovation through cooperation between member organizations on interdisciplinary and integrated cutting-edge research and development, commercialization of research outcomes, and development of human resources. In this Research Complex program, in addition to joint research and development, every effort will be made to build an international hub for health sciences-related business by establishing mechanisms for generating and supporting the rapid implementation of new business ideas and nurturing entrepreneurs.

Overview

The “Compass to Healthy Life” Research Complex aims to serve as a “compass” to help people lead healthier and more fulfilling lives by developing a “virtual-self” tool that will offer accurate guidance for better maintaining and promoting health. To this end, we are bringing together leading researchers from RIKEN and other research institutes and universities both in Japan and overseas at the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster (an advanced medical technology R&D hub) to combine life sciences, nanotechnology, measurement science, and device and computer sciences in a way that advances our understanding of the human body and enables the building of a computer-based virtual-self tool that people can use to predict their future health status.

Outlook

The new knowledge and data obtained through this initiative will serve as a substantial foundation for health-related industries and lead to the development of new services and products in various industries. In addition to joint research and development, every effort will be made to build an international hub for health sciences-related business by establishing mechanisms for generating and supporting the rapid implementation of new business ideas and nurturing entrepreneurs.