Kyoto University
Fujitsu Ltd.
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd.

Kyoto University and Fujitsu Launch Joint Research Projectto Advance Medicine through the Use of AI
Kyoto, Tokyo, and Kawasaki, January 24, 2018 – Kyoto University, Fujitsu Limited, and Fujitsu
Laboratories Ltd. today announced that they have established the Department of Medical Intelligent
Systems, a joint research project at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine to use artificial
intelligence (AI) in the field of medicine. The research activities are being conducted as of January 2018
and will run for approximately two years.
The joint research project will use all types of medical information, including patient data accumulated onelectronic medical records collected by Kyoto University Hospital and the Fujitsu Group’s advanced AItechnology, Fujitsu Human Centric AI Zinrai. Through collaboration between Kyoto University’s physicians
and bioinformatics researchers (*1) and the Fujitsu Group’s AI engineers, the project will leverage thisinformation and use AI to accelerate R&D toward advanced, next-generation medicine, such as creating
new approaches to diagnostic support and drug discovery. Fujitsu and Kyoto University aim to apply theknowledge database platform they’ve developed through their joint research and the insights it elicits torelated fields, such as health insurance, and broadly put them to use for the benefit of society.
Background
With rapid advances in scientific technology, the digitalization of medical front lines continues to progress,
and a wide range of medical information (real world data) is being accumulated. It is strongly anticipatedthat this trend will bring about advanced, next-generation medical care that will deliver optimal care topatients, stemming/resulting from the combination of this data with revolutionary advances in AI toevaluate and analyze medical information, while applying it to the actual clinical front lines.
Currently, AI has already demonstrated an impressive ability to evaluate and analyze certain types ofmedical images. At the same time, to build AI that can make more sophisticated determinations, it isnecessary to use detailed clinical time series data. Much of this data, however, consists of unstructuredinformation, such as notes written by medical personnel. Moreover, there is not yet any AI technology
that, in a practical application, can integrate and link together the huge volumes of various types of data,such as the text and figures in electronic medical records, reports in medical journals, genomic data, anddiagnostic images. To put this data to use, it has become essential to develop AI for medicine through theclose collaboration of researchers with a high degree of knowledge of the medical field with AI
researchers and engineers.
Overview of the Research1. Research Period
January 2018 to March 2020
2. Name of the Joint Research Project
Department of Medical Intelligent Systems (Project Leader: Department of Biomedical Data Intelligence,Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University Dr. Yasushi Okuno)
3. Project Location
Clinical Research Center for Medical Equipment Development (CRCMeD), Kyoto University Hospital(located in Kyoto)
4. Description of the Research
The research will use a wide range of different and highly sophisticated medical data, including:Patient data collected on the electronic medical records of Kyoto University Hospital
Cancer patient data recorded in the Kyoto University Cancer Treatment Support Database
SystemAnd cohort data (*2)

For all of the above, consent has been applied for and given by an ethics committee from the Departmentof Biomedical Data Intelligence and the Clinical System Oncology Project of the Kyoto University
Graduate School of Medicine.
To be able to use AI to generate new knowledge and insights, the data will first be preprocessed using AI(natural language processing), and an environment for analysis will be built. Next, with this huge volumeof comprehensively sorted data, another form of AI (machine learning) will be used to extract the common
characteristics for each disease indication and create models that will contribute to new approaches todiagnostic support, including the identification of specific disease characteristics from medical images,
and the discovery of next-generation drugs. In addition, research will be conducted on advancing AI
technology specifically within the field of medicine.
The new knowledge and insights discovered, as well as the AI technology for the medical field, will becomprehensively built onto a platform, leading to the future realization of a knowledge database that canbe widely used in the medical field.
Data to be used
a. Electronic medical records stored by Kyoto University Hospital as well as data from its diagnostic
support database systemb. With consent from an ethics committee by Kyoto University, data for use in cohort research that has
been approved by the steering committee of the Department of Medical Intelligent Systems
c. Public text data from sources such as diagnostic/treatment guidelines and prescription drug
documentation
All patient data and cohort research data used in this joint research will be rendered anonymous.
5. Respective Responsibilities
Kyoto University will provide the expertise of its doctors and bioinformatics researchers, personnel
training, and evaluation of clinical data.
Fujitsu Group will offer AI technology and big data analysis technology, development of AI technology forthe medical field, and construction of the knowledge database platform.
Expectations for the Joint Research Project
By using AI to analyze the large volumes of advanced medical data that have been accumulated on thefront lines of medicine, Kyoto University and Fujitsu expect to not only improve the quality of medicalcare, but also to discover new treatments and diagnostic methods. The partners anticipate that this could
precipitate major social change, not only in the medical field, but also in related fields likepharmaceuticals and insurance. Furthermore, Fujitsu will continue research on this platform and systemfor combining and connecting a wide variety of diverse data in the anticipation that it will also prove
broadly useful in fields other than medicine, including manufacturing and finance.

This joint research project will not be limited to just evaluating technology, but through the use of realdata, will also create genuinely effective and useful knowledge, giving back meaningful results to society.
Related Links
Department of Biomedical Data Intelligence, Human Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto
University http://clinfo.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/
Glossary and Notes
1. Bioinformatics researchers: Experts in bioinformatics, which fuses life science with information
science, who analyze information relating to biological life and handle life science questions from acomputational theory standpoint.
2. Cohort: A group used in researching topics such as the causes of disease by comparing the dataobtained from following the group, consisting of people with certain elements in common, over a set
period of time.
Press Contacts
Public and Investor Relations DivisionInquiries
Company: Fujitsu LimitedDepartment of Biomedical Data Intelligence, Human Health Science Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto
Universitymailto:clinfojimu@hs.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Organization: Kyoto University

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