Medical Industry Innovation Institute

Japan is the most rapidly aging society in the world and is seeking to establish a new social system to prepare for an unprecedented condition for all nations. This demographic reality demands novel and sustainable medical solutions including technologies and services to control ever-increasing costs, while balancing the need to provide access to safe, quality care. How Japan copes with the necessity to control national health care expenditure is of interest to policy makers around the world. While each country faces unique hurdles ­ regulatory, economic, cultural ­ the challenges they face are remarkably similar.
The demand for new “Medical Solutions” within a new holistic healthcare framework is broadly accepted. However, there is an increasing sentiment that the necessary transformations are being delayed. From a strategic perspective, this is due to the difficulties of balancing conflicting interests and agenda between the different stakeholders. This has downstream impact with delays in reforming the regulation environment; and creating new and trained professional staff.
Japan was the original, global leader in elemental technology and advanced science that supported the medical industry, but it is not now involved in developing new products and services that are valued in the market. It has been mooted that Japan wanted to take this opportunity and move further up the value chain to provide a total solution. This would be achieved by reviewing the contemporary market needs from the standpoint of patients/consumers and to discuss how healthcare-social system should be reconstructed. To this end, Japan could contribute towards the development of a large medical industry strategy by inviting the world’s intellectual / leadership and management resources to Japan, which would act as a catalyst to bring back their business in Japan.
This year, in this course, we will share the vision of top leaders who each plays pivotal roles in the emerging new healthcare industry (medicine, medical equipment, medical treatment, ICT and social systems). It is hoped that such discussions can enhance realizing the necessary innovation among the multiple and interested constituencies.