Biotechnologies are becoming ever more important for pharmaceuticals, food, the environment, and energy among other industries. With the increasing needs for a sustainable circular economy, industries are now embracing biotechnologies more than ever before. As a result, the concept of a "bioeconomy" has emerged. This is also true for Japan. The Cabinet Office is encouraging stakeholders to establish and boost biocommunities in various locations across Japan and thereby attract talent and investment from both inside and outside the country. In April 2022, the Cabinet Office certified two biocommunities in East and West Japan as "Global Biocommunites" to support their growth as world-leading biotech hubs. In this article, we interviewed the leaders of the two biocommunities, Mr. Osamu Nagayama, Chairperson of the Greater Tokyo Biocommunity (GTB) and Ms. Takuko Sawada, Chairperson of the Biocommunity Kansai (BiocK), about the current situation and the challenges for biocommunities in and outside Japan.
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Efforts to establish biocommunities in Greater Tokyo and Kansai
――Today we welcome the leaders of biocommunities in the Greater Tokyo and Kansai areas. I am very pleased to have this chance to hear from you about your communities. Firstly, could you please provide an outline of your community?
Nagayama GTB (Greater Tokyo Biocommunity) was established two years ago to strengthen the industrial ecosystem in the Tokyo area and contribute to the realization of the "world's leading bioeconomy society" as outlined in the national bio-strategy. Last year, it was also recognized by the Cabinet Office as a "Global Bio Community". The concept of "bioeconomy," as advocated by the OECD, encompasses various fields such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and food using biotechnology. In countries strategically promoting "bioeconomy," there are bio communities centered around academia, such as universities. However, in the Tokyo area, which hosts numerous national and private universities, the formation of cross-sectional communities had not progressed. Therefore, we decided to create it ourselves. The specific activities initially undertaken included the "visualization" of community activities in the Tokyo area and the dissemination of information to the world. By utilizing online tools to hold regular meetings and promote information sharing, there is an expectation for the birth of new collaborations. Additionally, efforts are focused on attracting talent from overseas, which has become essential for creating scientific and technological innovations. Furthermore, to ensure that collaborations are not confined to Tokyo, there is a plan to build an open system by attending each other's meetings with Kansai and the six "regional bio communities" and fostering mutual exchanges.
Sawada The Kansai area has long embraced industry-academia collaboration including ones in biotechnology. The Kinki Bio-Industry Development Organization has encouraged collaborative projects, while the Kansai Economic Federation has also been working on building a startup ecosystem in the Kansai area. The Kansai area has a number of universities and research institutions in major cities such as Kyoto, Osaka, and Kobe. However, it does not have biotech communities large enough to be called clusters. Overseas investors recognize the presence of Tokyo but have not paid enough attention to the Kansai area as a center of biotech research. We therefore thought it was important to develop a world-known biotech cluster here and in turn boost the growth of the Kansai area. We anticipate that we can activate the biocommunity in Kansai by calling for researchers and partners to address the social challenges we choose. Challenges are a great source of new opportunities for researchers, from the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic brought about a rapid advancement of technologies in the form of PCR tests and vaccines. Accordingly, BiocK has working groups where member companies share their potential research topics in which external partners can also be engaged. Our working groups are very active and will soon reach 30 in number. We consult with foreign embassies and consulates to co-host symposiums and communicate our activities to their home countries. We also use web-based communications to announce our activities on a global scale and share all of the very latest news and overseas information with communities across Japan. We believe we can attract overseas investors by visualizing the expertise of biotech companies and labs in Japan through our collaboration not only with stakeholders in Kansai but also with GTB and other biocommunities in Japan.
Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and industry : All of them require a biocommunity.
――Why is a biocommunity needed now?
Nagayama I believe this is because a horizontal division of labor structure is essential in the bioindustry, which requires organic collaboration among members of each step. This is exactly the structure of LINK-J. The need for such a bio-community has long been pointed out in the world of Red Biotechnology (pharmaceuticals and health) in Japan, and people who have actually seen the bio-community in the U.S., in particular, have been advocating for a similar community in Japan.
Sawada I think the biocommunity is needed because we must work more closely than ever before to address and solve the social challenges, we face right now. For example, we now face many challenges related to global warming, such as increased demand for cleaner energy, emerging infections and other health challenges, and the need for a new way of conducting agriculture to adapt to climate change. These challenges are all linked closely together and are in fact two faces of the same coin. I truly believe that a community where experts from different research fields discuss and support each other will help solve challenges and establish a better ecosystem.
Nagayama The community established in Red Biotechnology (pharmaceuticals and health), represented by biopharmaceuticals, should ideally be expanded and applied to White Biotechnology (industrial and energy) and Green Biotechnology (food and agriculture) as well. Compared to pharmaceutical companies that invest large amounts of capital in research and development every year, food companies, which do not invest as much, seem to have a strong interest in collaborating to develop common technologies rather than working independently. Europe has already established biocommunities where small, mid-sized, large, and global companies work together to explore new food technologies and solutions. I understand that companies from different industries, such as Google and Apple, are enthusiastically investing in food technologies in the US.
Japan needs communities that attract excellent global talent
――What do you think would be necessary to create biocommunities with a global presence in Japan?
Nagayama The first and most important thing is to secure talented individuals. What should we do to attract excellent global talent to become involved in communities in Japan? This is indeed a challenge not only for biocommunities but for Japan as a whole. Of course, GTB welcomes brilliant international talent. We should know that Western countries are open to welcoming foreign researchers. On the contrary, the Japanese, regardless of industry, government, or academia, have a deep-rooted tendency to work exclusively with fellow Japanese. I call this a "microcosmos." We need to take ourselves out of this microcosmos to create new innovations in science and technology. I heard that in the development of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet, which was unfortunately discontinued, about half of the more than 1,000 staff members were foreigners. Similarly, Boston's strength is due to the fact that it has an environment where foreigners can thrive.
Sawada Universities in Japan are trying to invite excellent talent from other countries. It would be difficult to invite famous leading researchers, but I believe that we can attract young, promising foreign researchers to Japan. For example, in the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) in Keihanna Science City, young researchers from different countries are actively working. They return to their home countries after sufficiently developing their careers for the next steps in life. In order to continue attracting promising young researchers, universities and institutions must distinguish themselves as good places to work and build a world-class research environment.
――It is necessary to communicate the merits of working in Japan in addition to salaries for open positions in order to attract talent. What challenges are you facing in terms of talent development?
Sawada The first thing I would like to point out is the quality of the research environment. For example, universities in Japan are not yet fully digitalized. Universities must provide a digital environment where students can access and use information from anywhere on a campus. They need government support for this digitalization. Companies in Japan also need to be more digitalized as well. The second thing is that we should focus on developing skilled managers. Universities in Japan have an abundance of excellent research seeds, i.e., insights which can be developed into future innovations. This research excellence has been acknowledged and trusted by overseas partners. However, having good seeds is not enough. Universities also need excellent managers to successfully commercialize their inventions. Universities need talented people who can communicate with others on how their inventions could benefit and contribute to society.
Nagayama In Japan, there is also a shortage of CROs (Contract Research Organizations) and CDMOs (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations) that can handle the development of new modalities. Even if there are ideas, it's impossible for medical school professors alone to create drugs from seeds. The presence of contract development organizations is indispensable when it comes to actual drug production. Furthermore, the shortage of talent with management capabilities is a challenge shared by the United States. This is why in the U.S., startup companies receive not only investment but also human resource education through mentorship programs. There are many people who transition from private companies, and I know several acquaintances in the U.S. and Europe who have moved from pharmaceutical companies to become executives in startups. An ecosystem cannot exist without talented individuals, but without an ecosystem, management talent cannot be cultivated--this is the classic "chicken or the egg" problem.
――In order to commercialize an invention in academia, you need "strong muscles," which mean contract organizations that can design and manufacture a pharmaceutical product.
Sawada Manufacturing is a pitfall in and outside Japan. We have heard many cases where researchers came across difficulties in terms of manufacturing their trial drug for the first time in clinical development stages and were told "Why didn't you start considering pharmaceutical technologies to manufacture the drug earlier?" You might think that someone can launch a new CDMO that supports drug manufacturing from an early stage of development. However, it is very risky to manufacturing trial drugs at early stages due to the fact that few programs can successfully enter into clinical development. CDMO's efforts will pay if at least one project enters into commercial manufacturing. However, it is not easy to continue operating the business before achieving success. There is a real need to address this issue in the future.
Nagayama One of the solutions would be to have foreign CDMOs, with their extensive development experience, enter the Japanese market.
Create a world-class community through Tokyo-Kansai collaborations
――What other challenges do you see?
Nagayama Japan is not fully prepared to conduct first-in-human trials of new modalities like cell therapy. Currently, regulatory science has not been fully established for new modalities, and each facility is left to devise its own trials. However, this approach is not sufficient to pass FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) reviews. This is also a major issue.
――Among the challenges you have pointed out today, what do you think is the most urgent one?
Nagayama All the points are essential but the first thing we have to address is to build ecosystems in Japan by having experienced experts who are active overseas also play an active role in Japan.
Sawada The first thing we should to do is provide information in English. This is essential. Talking about clinical trials, we need capabilities to carry out decentralized clinical trials. We also have to ensure the accuracy of real-world data (RWD), as we are discussing the use of external control arms in clinical trials. As Japan's labor costs are quite high, we have to devise cost-efficient systems for facilitating clinical trials like one that allows trial sponsors to register participants as scheduled. If we cannot provide an environment where sponsor companies conduct clinical trials with confidence, Japan will soon be unable to participate in simultaneous global developments.
――Thank you very much for discussing biocommunities with us today. Finally, please share your aspirations for the future.
Nagayama We have a myriad of challenges ahead, but I aim to tackle them one by one. What is important is not to divide Japan in two between the Kanto and Kansai regions, but rather for the two regions to work together to form a world-class bio-community. Geographically, it is difficult to put them together in one place, so they are divided into two organizations, but fundamentally, I believe it's crucial to combine the strengths of both regions and create a place in Japan where new innovations can be triggered.
Sawada We send our members to meetings and events by the other group to exchange information between GTB and BiocK. It will take some time to achieve some results in the Kansai area. However, we are looking forward to communicating technologies in Japan by taking opportunities at Expo 2025 in Osaka and other events to attract talent and investment and thereby boost the growth of the entire country.
Osamu Nagayama Chairperson of the Greater Tokyo Biocommunity (GTB) and Honorary Chairman of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.After graduating from Keio University Faculty of Business and Commerce, he joined the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Ltd. (LTCB). After serving at LTCB's London branch, he joined Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in 1978. At Chugai, he served as Deputy Head of Development Planning Division, Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and Representative Director, Chairman. He was appointed Honorary Chairman of Chugai in 2020. He served as President of Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association from 1998 to 2004. In 2010, he was appointed Member of the Board of Director of Sony Corporation (now Sony Group Corporation), and served as Chairman of the Board until 2019.
Takuko Sawada Chairperson of the Biocommunity Kansai (BiocK) and Director and Vice Chairperson on the Board of Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and Executive Vice-President for Industry-Government-Academia CollaborationAfter graduating from the Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, she joined Shionogi & Co., Ltd.After serving as Senior Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Pharmaceutical Development Division and Senior Executive Officer and Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy Division, she assumed the position of Director and Vice Chairperson of the Board of Shionogi in 2022. She also became Director of the Japan Bioindustry Association in 2015, Director of the Kansai Economic Federation in 2019, Chairperson of the Biocommunity Kansai in 2021, and Vice Chair of the Kansai Economic Federation in 2023.