Bio Companies Open Collaboration Path with Japanese Hospitals and Pharmaceutical Firms... Bilateral Cooperation Promised

Ministry of SMEs and Startups and Japan iPark Agree to Establish Cooperation System
Startups to Move into Facilities and Collaborate with Major Pharmaceutical Companies

Minister Lee Young, Ministry of SMEs and Startups [Photo by Yonhap News]

Domestic advanced bio startups now have the opportunity to collaborate with local hospitals and major pharmaceutical companies in Japan to achieve clinical trial success.

On the 11th, Lee Young, Minister of SMEs and Startups, visited the bio cluster "iPark Institute" (hereafter iPark) located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and agreed on establishing a Korea-Japan cooperation system and detailed support measures. [Related article=Lee Young "Supporting Advanced Bio Companies' Overseas Expansion... Establishing Korea-US-Japan Cooperation System"]

iPark is an innovation cluster established by the global company Takeda Pharmaceutical, which opened its own research center to universities and external companies in 2018 to promote exchange and cooperation. It has the largest facilities in Japan in the life sciences field. Recently, it has become independent from Takeda Pharmaceutical and positioned itself as a symbol of autonomous bio-technology innovation.

On the same day, Minister Lee held a meeting with Toshio Fujimoto, CEO of iPark, and agreed to promote cooperative projects based on the recognition of the need for transnational cooperation to foster the advanced bio industry. The cooperative projects include ▲support for Korean advanced bio startups ▲joint planning and operation of open innovation programs ▲Korea-Japan joint bio research.

First, Korean startups in advanced bio fields such as cell therapy and gene therapy will be supported to move into iPark facilities to use experimental equipment and connect with hospitals and clinical trials in Japan for clinical success.

Korean startups will collaborate with major Japanese companies such as Takeda Pharmaceutical to achieve results, and both organizations will jointly plan an open innovation program covering the digital bio field and select participating companies.

Finally, there is a plan to conduct joint research with Korean startups to commercialize fundamental bio technologies owned by Japan.

Before the third quarter of this year, the 'K-Bio Lab Hub' in Songdo, Incheon, and the iPark Institute will sign an agreement in Korea covering the above cooperation details.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.