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LINK-J Concludes MOU on Mutual Cooperation with University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

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One of the top educational and research institutions in the United States
-- Cooperating with 10 organizations (including 6 overseas organizations) and expanding LINK-J's role as a hub for the life sciences field --

Life Science Innovation Network Japan, Inc. (head office: Nihonbashi-Honcho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; chairman of the board: Hideyuki Okano; hereinafter "LINK-J") concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation aimed at creating innovations in the field of life sciences with the University of California, Los Angeles (location: California, USA; president: Gene D. Block, hereinafter "UCLA"). The MOU was signed at Bunche Hall, UCLA campus in Los Angeles on June 3. LINK-J is a general incorporated association based in Nihonbashi in Tokyo that supports the commercialization of seeds and ideas in the field of life sciences by promoting human and technology exchange.

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Akihiko Soyama, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of LINK-J, and C. Cindy Fan, Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement of UCLA

UCLA-logo.jpgUCLA is an excellent public educational and research institution that has produced numerous famous graduates and researchers, including 14 Nobel Prize winners. The quality of UCLA's educational and research efforts is widely recognized not only in the United States, but worldwide. LINK-J has engaged in various collaborative efforts with UCLA in the past, such as hosting the LINK-J Networking Reception "UCLA Health: Partnering with Industry to Advance Healthcare" in association with UCLA Health on May 16, 2019. This MOU was concluded with the objective of further deepening the level of these collaborative initiatives. It represents an agreement to explore mutual cooperation over the next five years with a view towards creating new industry through open innovation, driving the transformation of research outcomes in the field of life sciences into actual businesses and industries. In 2016, UCLA established the UCLA Japan Center at Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, an urban development project being advanced by the real estate company Mitsui Fudosan. The Center is utilized as a general point of contact for UCLA in Japan, the office of the UCLA Japan Alumni Association, and a hub and base of operations for UCLA researchers in Japan.

So far, LINK-J has signed MOUs to create life science-related innovations with the following business alliance partners: the University of California San Diego (UCSD) and Biocom (a life science organization in San Diego, U.S.A.) in May 2016; Eurobiomed (a life science organization in Southern France) in June 2017; Kyoto Research Park Corp. (Japan's first privately operated research park) in July 2017; One Nucleus (a large life science organization in Europe) in December 2017; the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation in Kobe in February 2018; the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University (Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Pref.) in April 2018; MedCity (a U.K. organization to promote the industrialization of life sciences research) in June 2018, and the City of Kawasaki in August 2018. This latest agreement makes UCLA the tenth MOU partner of LINK-J.

Moving forward, LINK-J will serve as a more influential global hub in the life sciences field by cooperating more broadly with additional life science organizations, both in Japan and internationally.

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Cindy Fan, UCLA's Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement, commented on the MOU as follows. "UCLA is honored to be LINK-J's tenth MOU partner. As a global research university, we are committed to working with academic and industry partners around the world to advance cutting-edge research and contribute to the common good. The collaboration that we are exploring with LINK-J, and our strong relationship with Mitsui Fudosan, are instrumental to helping us achieve that goal."

"We are very pleased to have achieved this cooperative alliance with UCLA, which boasts numerous results in the field of life sciences and various other fields of research and which is also famous as a place for the birth of innovation --known as "the birthplace of the Internet," to name one example. Looking ahead, exchanges between LINK-J and UCLA will support the creation of new value as we continue to contribute to the activation of the life science industry as a whole by further interacting with our 10 alliance partners both in Japan and abroad," said Akihiko Soyama, Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of LINK-J.

Moving forward, LINK-J will continue to stimulate the creation of life science innovations, contribute to the advancement of life science industries and contribute in resolving life science-related issues for people around the world.

About the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. It was established in 1919. In 2018, it was ranked 9th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, which evaluates major universities around the world. It is one of the world's top educational and research institutions, having produced numerous excellent researchers, including 14 Nobel Prize winners and 9 U.S. National Medal of Science laureates.
In the field of life sciences, too, UCLA is engaged in a range of cutting-edge research efforts, including the establishment of its Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Medicine (an institute for stem cell research) in 2005. For more details, please refer to the official UCLA website: http://www.ucla.edu/

About Life Science Innovation Network Japan, Inc. (LINK-J)
LINK-J is a general incorporated association established by Mitsui Fudosan and volunteers from academic circles. With its base in the Nihonbashi area, where a number of pharmaceutical companies are clustered, LINK-J aims to promote open innovation in the life sciences realm through industry-government-academia cooperation and to support the creation of new industries. Across the entire life sciences arena, i.e., the arena where all sciences combine -- ranging from medicine to science and further to engineering and new technologies, such as information and communication technology (ICT) and artificial intelligence (AI) -- it will accelerate interdisciplinary human and technological exchanges.
Website: https://www.link-j.org/

LINK-J Concludes MOU on Mutual Cooperation with University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
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