20 12 月, 2022

TANAKA Contributes to Venture Capital Fund “DMC No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership” Aiming to Establish a Medical Venture Ecosystem in Japan

TOKYO, Dec 20, 2022 - (JCN Newswire via SEAPRWire.com) - TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Koichiro Tanaka), which operates the TANAKA Precious Metals manufacturing business, announced today that it has made an equity contribution to the medical venture capital fund Diamond Medino Capital (DMC) No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership founded in Japan by Professor Terumitsu Hasebe (Professor, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tokai University; Visiting Professor, Keio University School of Medicine; Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Harvard Medical School; medical doctor, PhD in Medicine, and PhD in Engineering). This is Japan's first medical venture capital fund established with an active medical professor serving as its representative. Through this equity contribution, TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo will contribute toward technological development in Japan's domestic medical and healthcare industry.Background and ObjectivesTANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo decided to undertake this equity contribution as the company supports the fund's principle of establishing a medical venture ecosystem originating from Japan. TANAKA has previously worked with Professor Hasebe on national projects (under the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development) for the joint development of advanced medical technologies, such as metal coils for embolization and long patency stent systems. The company is participating in this fund as the anchor limited partner to pursue the potential of precious metals - from a comprehensive perspective for the future of medicine and not just in terms of products and projects - and contribute to Japanese society.Currently in Japan, companies continue to face difficulties with rapid and sophisticated research and development due to issues such as fund procurement, a sense of urgency, and a shortage of human resources. In addition, there are cases where academic research groups with excellent technologies do not reach commercialization. Regarding these issues, this fund will support Japan's new and current medical ventures by closely assisting them in terms of human resources, capital, management, pharmaceutical, patent, exit, and other strategies. In this way, the fund will contribute to the well-being of patients by giving birth to venture companies with excellent academic technologies in the medical field, achieving early practical application of those technologies, and providing new medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, and medical-related services to medical frontlines. Furthermore, the fund seeks to realize a true ecosystem that uses the knowledge gained and human resources developed to take on challenges in new projects and research themes, as well as support future entrepreneurs.Additionally, the fund has the strength of being deeply involved in support of its investments from its unique position not found in other Japanese medical funds so far, such as its understanding of needs at the frontlines of medicine, knowledge regarding the latest technological trends, and the responses of Japan's and the United States' governments toward practical application.Through equity contribution to this fund, TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo also expects to strengthen relationships with Japan's medical ventures and expand future medical business, such as the development of new products and technologies, in the healthcare industry. The company will contribute to society by working on the social issue of establishing a medical venture ecosystem in Japan through this equity contribution.Professor Hasebe, the representative of Diamond Medino Capital Co., Ltd., which manages this fund, made the following comment regarding TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo's participation in the fund, "TANAKA Precious Metals is always seeking to contribute to the creation of a prosperous society as well as to the future of the planet through sustainable use of precious metals as a leading company in the field of precious metals. TANAKA deeply empathizes with our fund's principle of establishing a true ecosystem that helps achieve the early practical application of Japan's excellent core medical-related technologies and conveys them to the world, and I am very happy to be able to journey into the future together. In the past, I have built a profound relationship of cooperation with TANAKA in the application of high-value-added precious metals in medical devices, and I hope to demonstrate significant synergy through new challenges."About the Medical Venture EcosystemTraditionally, an ecosystem refers to a state in which living things survive through a cycle of interdependence. Modeled after such a system, in a medical venture ecosystem, companies and funds come together to support medical ventures with technological capabilities and future potential to build a sustainable cycle of new technology and product development in Japan while inheriting expertise gained through the development of new technologies. This fund is the first in Japan to be led by active parties in the field of medicine and aims to establish a medical venture ecosystem originating from Japan by supporting medical ventures.Profile of Professor Terumitsu HasebeTerumitsu Hasebe, medical doctor, PhD in Medicine (Keio University), and PhD in Engineering (Keio University)- Professor, Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, Tokai University; Visiting Professor, Keio University School of Medicine- Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)/Harvard Medical School- AMED BRIDGE Project Leader (Seeds F)Professor Hasebe established the Hasebe Research Group, which combines medical science and engineering within Keio University's Faculty of Science and Technology. After obtaining his PhD in Engineering, while as a medical doctor, he undertook the development of medical devices with various global manufacturers. An example of one of his developments is the launch of the cerebral thrombosis stent retriever of Biomedical Solutions Inc. - Professor Hasebe was in charge of the entire preclinical study for the patent application in 2019 - that has become a premier device and continues to save many patients today. During the COVID-19 pandemic, to search for a new way to bring excellent academic technologies in Japan to the world, he launched this venture capital fund. He is an active medical doctor who has received more than 30 academic awards in Japan and overseas and is also a researcher and venture capitalist.Overview of DMC No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership- Fund name: DMC No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership- Established: November 2022This is a medical venture capital fund originating from Japan, with Professor Terumitsu Hasebe - an active medical professor with a PhD in Medicine as well as a PhD in Engineering - serving as its representative. The fund specializes in medical device and pharmaceutical development businesses, carrying out hands-on investments in venture companies from the seeding phase of research and development to the patent approval phase. It was launched to establish a medical venture ecosystem in Japan by providing research and development environments on par with those overseas and supporting Japan's medical ventures.About TANAKA Precious MetalsSince its foundation in 1885, TANAKA Precious Metals has built a portfolio of products to support a diversified range of business uses focused on precious metals. TANAKA is a leader in Japan regarding the volumes of precious metals handled. Over the course of many years, TANAKA has not only manufactured and sold precious metal products for industry but also provided precious metals in such forms as jewelry and assets. As precious metals specialists, all Group companies in Japan and around the world collaborate and cooperate on manufacturing, sales, and technology development to offer a full range of products and services. With 5,225 employees, the Group's consolidated net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, were 787.7 billion yen.**From the current consolidated fiscal year, the amounts of sales for some transactions are indicated as net values due to the application of the Accounting Standard for Revenue Recognition.Global industrial business websitehttps://tanaka-preciousmetals.com/en/Product inquiriesTANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com/en/inquiries-on-industrial-products/Press inquiriesTANAKA Holdings Co., Ltd.https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com/en/inquiries-for-media/This press release in PDF: https://www.acnnewswire.com/docs/files/20221220_EN.pdf Copyright 2022 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. (via SEAPRWire)

26 1 月, 2021

NTU rolls out new core curriculum for freshmen

Freshmen joining Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in the new academic year in August will take up a new common curriculum that spans a variety of subjects. They will also need to complete internships in order to graduate. These are among the initiatives that NTU laid out yesterday - as part of its plans for the next five years - to better prepare students for a changing workforce. The core curriculum, which emphasises interdisciplinary skills, comprises seven modules covering topics such as digital literacy, communication and inquiry, ethics and global challenges. The aim is to help students make connections between disciplines and prepare them for a world where complex challenges need to be tackled from different angles. The revamped curriculum starts with the 6,000 freshmen joining NTU in August - except those studying medicine and those at the National Institute of Education. The modules, which students will take across their first two years, make up about a fifth of the overall academic workload. Higher learning institutions have been making a greater push for students to see connections across disciplines. In August, the National University of Singapore will enrol first-year students into its new College of Humanities and Sciences, marking a shift from the traditional way of learning in separate disciplines. Speaking to The Straits Times, NTU president Subra Suresh said that with the overhaul of the core curriculum, undergraduates will take classes alongside peers from other disciplines and listen to a wider range of faculty members. SERENDIPITOUS ENCOUNTERS An arts student will get to see a professor from mathematics, who will talk about data privacy... or may get an opportunity to meet and talk to an economics professor from the business school or somebody who does blockchain... So it's these kinds of serendipitous encounters that we want to foster at the undergraduate level. NTU PRESIDENT SUBRA SURESH He cited the example of an engineering or computer science student who would naturally have computer literacy and coding expertise. But he would also need to understand softer aspects of technology, such as the ethics of computing, as well as privacy and confidentiality. "An arts student will get to see a professor from mathematics, who will talk about data privacy... or may get an opportunity to meet and talk to an economics professor from the business school or somebody who does blockchain," said Professor Suresh. "So it's these kinds of serendipitous encounters that we want to foster at the undergraduate level." The university degree that today's undergraduates leave with must be relevant to the changing times - it cannot be the same as that of the generations that came before them, added Prof Suresh. "(Graduates) are going to have five to six decades of career where they have to not only continually change jobs - it's inevitable that they're also going to continually change professions." NTU will also widen its interdisciplinary offerings, with a new undergraduate major in economics and data science from August, as well as higher degree programmes in areas like neuroscience. The increasing focus on interdisciplinarity also extends to staff, said Prof Suresh. NTU, which currently has some 1,450 faculty members, will in the next five years create joint positions across schools for existing and new staff. "(This will impact) how we look at tenure, how we look at promotion, how we reward (faculty), how we recognise their achievements," said Prof Suresh, noting that NTU has adopted broader evaluation methods in recent years. "The criteria is much more holistic than numerical KPIs (key performance indicators), how many papers you published. Ultimately, impact is what we care about, and impact can be defined in many different ways," he said. "If you are a computer science professor and you haven't published something, but you've written a code that Facebook and Google and WeChat and all of these (companies) use... it's impact." NTU hopes to give faculty "the freedom to move around in a much broader space", he said. "If we allow them to do that, they'll be much better teachers."