On March 2, Kobe University and the University of Washington, based in Seattle, Washington, USA, jointly held a signing ceremony and international research workshop with the aim of further promoting international collaboration in the areas of education, research and innovation.
Based on an existing inter-university academic exchange agreement, this new agreement is intended to strengthen the cooperative relationship between the two universities. At the ceremony, agreements were signed on inter-university student exchange as well as industry-university exchange between Kobe University’s Institute for Academic Research and Co-Creative Innovation and the University of Washington’s CoMotion.
Before the signing ceremony, a delegation from the University of Washington, including Dr. Ahmad M. Ezzeddine, Vice Provost for Global Affairs; Dr. Gayle Christensen, Associate Vice Provost for Global Affairs; Dr. Anson Fatland, Associate Vice Provost for Innovation Strategy and Ventures; and Ms. Ashlee Esteban-Akimoto, Director of CoMotion Labs, paid a visit to President FUJISAWA Masato of Kobe University. During the visit, representatives from both universities discussed future collaboration in a wide range of fields.
At the signing ceremony, President Fujisawa and Dr. Ezzeddine confirmed their commitment to further deepen collaboration in student exchange, technology transfer and industry-government-academia collaboration. Also in attendance were Mr. SEGO Tatsuya, Director General of the Kobe City Government, and Mr. TAKADA Atsushi, Vice-Chairperson of the Kobe Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who expressed high hopes for the expansion of industry-government-academia collaboration with Kobe City and corporations located in Kobe, including the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation at Kobe.
The international research workshop was held at the Graduate School of Medicine’s Medtech Innovation Center (MIC). Comprised primarily of major research areas in the Kobe University Engineering Biology Project (KUEB), this workshop featured introductions to cutting-edge research in next-generation biomedical science and synthetic biology. KUEB is a large-scale research project supported by the Program for Forming Japan’s Peak Research Universities (J-PEAKS), to which Kobe University has been selected, and strives to realize sustainable bioengineering.
The research session featured presentations by researchers from both universities on topics such as translational bioengineering, global health, synthetic biology and more, all of which were followed by lively Q&A sessions. Cutting-edge research results from a diverse range of fields were shared at the workshop, including applied research in medicine using AI, vascular regeneration technology, gene expression regulation in yeast and genome database analysis.
Through this event, we have constructed a comprehensive platform for deepening international exchange between Kobe University and the University of Washington not only in education, but also in research collaboration, technology transfer and startup creation. Moving forward, the two universities will continue to promote international joint research and the creation of innovation in order to realize a sustainable society.
(Communications Division, General Affairs Department)