SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYMEDICALINNOVATIONBLOOMS IN GLOBAL STARTUP CITIEST-ICU’s remote ICU service uses
high-performance cameras installed ineach patient’s room for detailed
monitoring of the patient’s condition,complexion, and breathing. That
reduces the number of actual visits
doctors and nurses must make. In
addition, a specialist can offer 24-hour
remote support to the on-site doctor
by viewing, in real time, a vital signmonitor connected to other medicaldevices, such as respirators.

Kobe

JINAIKAI, URASOE GENERAL HOSPITAL

Under a new growth strategy aiming at realizing a science and technology nation, efforts
are now underway across Japan to accelerate the practical application of innovative technologies.
Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture is one example of a municipality making full use of its local strengths
to support the promising startups that can help resolve global challenges, in medicine and beyond.
Strain on medical institutions, healthcare providers
at risk of infection, a shortage of intensive carespecialists—such latent issues lurking at the frontlinesof healthcare have been exposed to the world by
the COVID-19 pandemic. A service provided by aJapanese startup, T-ICU, has the potential to solve
many of these problems simultaneously. Througha unique remote monitoring system combining ahigh-performance camera capable of 360-degree
photography in full HD resolution with a monitor
screen displaying vital signs, a patient’s condition

With a population of approximately 1.5 million, Kobe City
has flourished as a major Japanese trading port for manyyears, and is set to continue attracting promising humanresources and businesses, both from within Japan andabroad, and to support 1,000 startups by fiscal year 2025.

can be grasped in detail by a specialist for remotediagnostics and advice.
One core concept of the Japan’s growth strategy is
to generate such innovative startups in order to drive
the development of technologies that can solve globalproblems. This year has been set as the first year forfounding startups, with the goal to build ecosystems
that link entrepreneurs, universities, and financial
and public institutions so as to get them off theground.
Some local governments have already formed such

ecosystems that fully utilize the features of theircommunities. The city of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture
is a pioneer in this initiative, providing a wide rangeof support to promising startups, from financial
assistance at the time of company establishment to thedevelopment of a business model. “We will continue
aiming to attract business incubators that offer
support from the idea stage to commercialization,
as well as to expand the entrepreneur base, including
students, and put a mechanism in place that will
ensure the continuous generation of startups inKobe,” says TAKEDA Taku, the city’s director of theNew Business Promotion Division.
T-ICU opened its office in the Kobe Biomedical
Innovation Cluster in 2019. “Thanks to theconcentration of medical institutes and organizations,vast knowledge and profound intelligence have alsocome together here. Such a situation makes it easy
to develop the horizontal connections that enable
access to the necessary information and specialists,”
says NAKANISHI Tomoyuki, the company’s CEO.
In 2020, T-ICU launched a COVID-19 response
project in collaboration with a designated medical
institution for infectious disease located in thisbiomedical hub, remotely connecting 9 hospitals
citywide. Through its systems, installed in thesehospitals, specialists provide advice on treatment
plans and the need for hospital transfers. “The city’s
general medical institutions are now confidently
able to provide patients with infectious diseaserelated care, enabling critical-care facilities to focus
on severely ill patients, which in turn helps preventa collapse of the healthcare system at times of peak
infection rates,” says Nakanishi. The company alsoplans to expand its business overseas by providing
remote training for doctors and nurses engaged inintensive care in developing countries.

With its eyes on the global business developmentof startups, Kobe has been cultivating talent andbusinesses by bringing in global accelerator programs
and international organizations. Projects havealready turned out numerous, growing companies
by working in partnership with the United Nations
Office for Project Services’ S3i Innovation Centreand 500 Global, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm.
Many requests for participation in these projects arecoming from outside Japan and, as befits a city that is
one of the country’s leading international ports, Kobewelcomes this trend. “By supporting open mindsets
and global perspectives, we hope to create a future inwhich young people ready to take on new challenges
will naturally gather here, with the expectationthat ‘in Kobe, you can create something new’”, says
Takeda.
Utilizing the world’s cutting-edge ideas and talentpool, the country continues to move toward a future
where both the startups of the world and its own cangrow. Right: The Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster is focusing its efforts onsupporting the commercialization ofR&D seeds. “Startup Creative Lab”
(photo), for example, is anincubation facility for startups in thelife science field.
Bottom: Participants in the 500
KOBE ACCELERATOR program
the city implemented incollaboration with 500 Global, aSilicon Valley venture capital firm.