LINK-J Launches Full-Scale Joint Promotion Project for Life Science Exchange and Collaboration in the Kansai Region Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. Opens "Life Science Hub West" in Osaka

Ramping up collaborations in Doshomachi, Osaka and Nihonbashi, Tokyo to create the innovation

Life Science Innovation Network Japan (Head office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; chairperson: Hideyuki Okano; hereafter LINK-J) and Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; representative director and president: Masanobu Komoda; hereafter Mitsui Fudosan) have promoted open innovation out of Nihonbashi, Tokyo by building communities, creating venues, and providing funds for the life sciences. LINK-J, which plays a key role in creating communities and fostering interaction and cooperation , as well as training and support, in the field of the life sciences, announced to begin it's activities in the Kansai region by partnering with a range of organizations under the name "LINK-J WEST." For its part, Mitsui Fudosan will be responsible for creating venues, and has opened Life Science Hub West in Osaka as a new location for the life sciences

LINK-J WEST will hold events and programs in Osaka, and plans to host events in both Doshomachi, Osaka and Nihonbashi, Tokyo as a collaborative project. This aimed at sharing the latest life sciences information in real time throughout the Kansai region and fostering communication between Osaka and Tokyo. Based on the expertise cultivated by Mitsui Fudosan, Life Science Hub West implements a variety of strategies to encourage people to congregate in both offline and online. In addition to this serving as a hub for LINK-J WEST's activities, it also serves as a place to connect Osaka and Tokyo.

Through LINK-J and Mitsui Fudosan's co-creation of new communities and venues, a range of startups gain a wider platform to show their work in Tokyo. By starting new activity based on the Kansai region and linking Kansai and Tokyo, they are fostering new innovation in the life sciences.

■LINK-J: 441 members and 518 events a year in Nihonbashi, Tokyo

LINK-J is a general incorporated association founded by Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. and volunteers from the fields of industry and academia. LINK-J is based in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, which is the epicenter of the pharmaceutical companies. The organization has led open innovation in the life sciences with industry-government-academia partnerships and has supported the creation of new opportunities in the field. LINK-J's main activities are promoting interaction and cooperation between players in the life sciences, as well as training and support. Today, four and a half years since its establishment, it succeeded recruiting 441 members which include corporations and individuals. In addition, LINK-J held 518 events and meet-and-greet sessions in 2019, with noted experts and startups in the life sciences taking the stage to discuss their work

■LINK-J WEST's activities are promoting innovation out of Kansai and communication between Osaka and Tokyo

LINK-J WEST draws on the group's experience in Tokyo to not only regularly organize events at Life Science Hub West, but also host bi-directional events between Tokyo and Osaka, such as new initiatives around academic seeds in the Kansai region and at pharmaceutical manufacturers. This allows for sharing the latest information on the life sciences in real-time with Tokyo and promoting synergistic communication.
Of the new initiatives, Hideyuki Okano (Dean, Keio University Graduate School of Medicine Professor, Department of Physiology), Chairman of the Board, said: "The life sciences is interdisciplinary area of multiple scientific fields, so active collaboration with external experts is essential to solving key issues. Through the opening of this new hub and start of new activities, LINK-J will spread out it's activities to Japan as a whole, and foster widespread innovation in the life sciences."
In addition, Yoshiki Sawa (Professor, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine), Vice Chairman of the Board, said: "Innovation in the life sciences is becoming increasingly important in the wake of the coronavirus. In conjunction with LINK-J WEST's activities, we want to further accelerate innovation out of the Kansai region and contribute to the development of the life sciences industries."

■Launching a Partnership with Osaka Prefecture: LINK-J's Growing Life Science Network

LINK-J collaborates with a range of life sciences organizations, companies, academia, and local governments in Japan and oversea. In cooperation with academia in Japan, LINK-J has conducted events such as disseminating the seeds held by academia and searching for private sector collaborations. In conjunction with the launch of LINK-J WEST, LINK-J concluded a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Osaka Prefecture regarding the creation of innovation in the life sciences. In addition to projects in Osaka Prefecture, LINK-J, which has concluded MOU with Kyoto Research Park, the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe, and other academia and industry groups in the life sciences in Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and parts of the Kansai region, will spearhead growth in the sector by vitalizing the life sciences with them.
Overseas, LINK-J cooperates with similar bodies in the United States and Europe, such as BIOCOM, a life science organization in San Diego; UC San Diego; UCLA; and other academic groups.

■"Life Science Hub West" functions: strategies to congregate people

Mitsui Fudosan has long been committed to vitalizing the Kansai region through its local offices, such as resolving social issues in partnership with Osaka Prefecture (comprehensive partnership agreement), leading industry-government-academia collaboration with Osaka University out of EXPOCITY (partnership agreement), and projects to revamp the Midosuji area with the city of Osaka.
LINK-J's life science innovation promotion project, which has been underway for some years in Nihonbashi, Tokyo as a means of fostering creativity in industry, will now be opened up to the Kansai region as a means of vitalizing the local area. Life Science Hub West, established as part of the group's mission of creating new venues, is located within the Midosuji Mitsui Building, which is within walking distance of Doshomachi and a minute's walk from Honmachi Station on the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line. The conference rooms (meeting rooms available for reservation) serve as a place to disseminate information, and a communication lounge provides a place where people from the life sciences industries can get together on a regular basis. Moreover, serviced office space is available for Kansai region companies, and companies out of Tokyo looking for a satellite office. This is coupled with Mitsui Fudosan's expertise in designing attractive and inviting spaces.
Life Science Hub West serves as a site that combines a physical space for face-to-face interaction with remote communication over the web, and acts as the base of LINK-J WEST's activities.

■Building community and venues: driving innovation through a two-pronged approach

Through the creation of opportunities and venues by LINK-J and Mitsui Fudosan, they give a wide range of startups platform such as business expansion by fundraising and transactions with major companies. Currently, there are nine life sciences sites in Tokyo, with 126 tenants that include startups and universities in the life sciences field, forming an ecosystem that is promoting industry-government-academia exchanges and creating innovation.
Through LINK-J WEST, which continues to provide opportunities for exchanging in the Kansai region, and Life Science Hub West, the group's hub in the region, LINK-J aims to ramp up growth of the life sciences in Western Japan.

■Conference rooms

• Allows for live communication between Tokyo and Osaka and acts as a hub for disseminating information
• LINK-J members can use both the Tokyo and Osaka locations/li>

■Communication Lounge

• Serves as a place for life sciences industry stakeholders to interact
• Can be used for short meetings or breaks
• Can also be used as an open event space. As with conference rooms, allows for live communication between Tokyo and Osaka

■Service offices

• Fully equipped with office furniture, equipment, Wi-Fi, and other facilities, allowing it to function as a satellite office for Kansai area startups and companies from Tokyo
• Providing offices tailored to the needs of startups, letting them select from different office sizes (1-7 people)

This release was announced on September 7, 2020.