Goals of the Knowledge Cluster Initiative
Towards the Creation of a Cluster Based on Advanced Preventative Techniques for Community Health
Construction of Platform Functions
(1)Definitions
"Platform" is used in the wider sense of "A single underlying structure that supports a multitude of overlying structures."
As we are aiming for the creation of an advanced preventative health society in the Greater Sendai region, we envision a platform that covers all the necessary functions for: "Initiating the clustering of a multiplicity of research seeds and on-site needs, a diversity of identities and the service groups that link to them, and acquiring and regulating the necessary elements for commercialization from regional resources."
(2)Necessary Functions
The functions necessary for a regional platform are as follows:
(i)Planning function
Starting with the research seeds and on-site needs and ideas of the region, we shall include advanced approaches from other regions into our own region, and envisage functions that can be combined with them hypothetically in line with the issues.
These functions will be linked with universities and other high-level research organizations, private companies, and public sectors areas, and we envisage the establishment and effective use of human resources such as coordinators.
(ii)Proving tests and refining functions
We envisage functions that can evaluate and validate the practical possibilities of research seeds and ideas brought in and given direction through the planning function, and elevate them to the level of business plans.
Normally, this is the same as the path from the R&D stage to the validation process. However, in the field of prevention and health that we are aiming at, there are issues that have been described as psychological barriers (NIMBY: Not In My Back Yard) such as "I understand the necessity for this, but I would prefer you did not do it in my place." Solving these issues will require more consideration in the future.
(iii)Business startup functions
We envisage overall functions that can act mediators for industrial support for the specific commercialization of ideas that have been validated and refined in (ii). Here, we envisage the provision of information sources and expertise to help people find ways to acquire the necessary business resources for commercialization, or ways to use the various industrial support menus. However, we can assume the effective utilization of database functions using ICT, and coordinators to act as go-betweens for this information.
(3)Examples of Use in Line with Models
Up until now, we have looked at the functions needed for platform functions, but now we have applied these to the "exercise habits formation support model" that our region is promoting.
In this model, we are aiming to develop a support system for recommending exercise menus that match the goals and tastes of the individual, based on their profiles, in order to fill the needs of both care prevention and lifestyle illness prevention. We are working to move forward with the validation of regional health insurance unions and their members as a test field, and to collect and analyze various data, such as daily activity amounts and frequency of meals, to improve the accuracy of research. We see sales routes to sports clubs and exercise facilities, centered on evidence-based exercise programs, as a path to commercialization.
(4)Looking to the Future
Up until now, we have discussed a number of elements needed for the construction of regional platform functions. When we aim for the creation of an advanced preventative health community, it is ideal to develop these functions within the region. However, while at present we have individual elements, we do not yet have an approach that can organically link these across the board, and there are still problems regarding the performance of individual functions. We consider that the following three points require particular attention:
- Ensuring human resources who can work in each function
- Functions for management, from planning management to business start-up management
- Functions that can effectively combine various regional resources as a shared infrastructure for regional society.
In the future, we will need to increase our efforts here in aiming for the construction of functions.