Promote the giving of “seeds” born from basic research back to society by the establishment of an academic network based in West Japan.

Greetings from the director

I would like to introduce you to the West Japan Academia Translational Research Network (WAT‒NeW). Japan is not such a large country and is not blessed with abundant natural resources, which is an important point to consider when developing globally competitive science and technology. Despite this, research produced in Japan is leading the world in the areas of biological science and medicine. As a result of this Japan has become the number one country in the world for the longevity of its people. However, we have to face up to the fact that compared to other developed countries, cases of the practical application of foundation research in biological and medicinal science settings are rare occurrences in Japan. The basis of progress in the medical field is, in addition to development of biological and medical science, the necessity of interaction and connection of base research to clinical research which has become a global trend. If things continue as they are, there is a danger that the level of medical science and treatment in Japan will begin to decline. The biggest reason for the slow uptake of this global trend is the insufficient provision of Translational Research (TR) connecting base research with clinical research and its practical application. Be that as it may, the structure of TR consists of intellectual property management, strategy development, clinical pharmacology, drug manufacture, clinical trials, project management, industrial collaboration/coordination etc, and due to the wide spectrum of specialist fields, it requires a lot of planning. TR also requires essential facilities such as Molecule and Cell Processing Centers (MCPC) and appraisal/inspection systems for pharmaceutical affairs. However, coordinating so many varied facilities is no easy task. In order to overcome these difficulties the world of academia must shed light on discoveries and inventions, not just through appropriate management of intellectual property and development strategies, but also through the creation of seeds from the results of foundational research. In order to bring results to society, the development of an academic network for coordination of such thins is an urgent issue. The aim of WAT‒NeW is to aid the development of seeds and translational research through sharing information, holding conferences showcasing appropriate implementation strategies and development linkage, and also by extension contribute to the development novel medical treatments from a base in the west region of Japan. To this end, we will promote our activities day by day.

Thank you for your support.

Sincerely, Secretariats of WAT-NeW