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Shimadzu Corporation has joined the “KPUM Medical Innovation Core for Society (K-MICS) “, an industry-academia-government collaboration initiative at Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine (KPUM). K-MICS is a platform established by KPUM and participating companies with the aim of fostering innovative research personnel, developing sustainable research and clinical environment, and implementing the results in society. In agreement with the founding purpose of “contributing to the local community through solving social issue in the fields of health, medical care and welfare and creating future medical care, Shimadzu joined the initiative in June last year and signed a comprehensive partnership agreement.

In the future, Shimadzu will support the Kakusei-juku program and R&D proposal competition “KPUM-Shimadzu Challenge”, both hosted by K-MICS. This competition invites research theme from young and mid-career researchers at KPUM that lead to “the development of new diagnostic technologies and treatments”, “productivity improvement through the use of data and AI”, and “expansion of medical service locations”. The initial application period was from December 13 last year to January 31 this year, and selected researchers or teams will receive research grants from K-MICS. Through its activities with K-MICS, Shimadzu aims to support new research necessary for the realization of future medical care, foster talent in medical-engineering collaboration, create solutions closely linked to the medical and clinical sectors, and implement these in regional healthcare.

Under its current mid-term management plan, Shimadzu Corporation aims to pursue planetary health (well-being of mankind and the Earth) and is committed to generating social value in the healthcare sector. This sector includes the med-tech field, which aims to provide value in the medical and clinical areas. By Participating in K-MICS, we are working to build the foundation for societal implementation of new medical devices and related technologies. Shimadzu has been collaborating with a variety of external research institutions and companies through the open innovation program “SHIMADZU Future Collaboratory Challenge” by Technology Research Laboratory and the corporate venture capital (CVC) fund “Shimadzu Future Innovation Fund”. Shimadzu will continue to promote open innovation and strive to solve various social issues in the future.

Yasunori Yamamoto (left), President & CEO of Shimadzu Corporation, Hitoshi Yaku (center), President of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, and Masayuki Adachi (right), President & COO of Horiba, Ltd., which participated in the K-MICS