Waseda University Partnership to Boost Research Competencies
17 Dec 2013
Mr Lance Lim (left) with Professor Yoshiaki Fukazawa, Chairman, Organisation for University Research Initiatives, Waseda University, exchanging gifts.
Singapore Polytechnic (SP) inks a memorandum of understanding establishing a strategic research partnership with Waseda University (WU), one of Japan’s prestigious research universities. Beginning with collaborations in biomedical research, this partnership will extend to other research areas such as robotics, food technology, advanced materials and sports technologies with WU providing fundamental research and SP focusing on applied research.
The seed for the collaboration was planted when Mr Lance Lim, SP’s Chief Technology Officer, met Professor Shuji Hashimoto, Vice President of WU. Mr Lim took the opportunity to share SP’s applied research, industry linkages and commercialisation initiatives with WU and brought a team from WU on a tour of SP’s Technology Innovation Centres to cement the ties.
Mr Lim shared that one key reason for this partnership was SP’s Technology Development Eco-system which includes full-time R&D staff working together with faculty members from various academic schools and industry partners, on multi-disciplinary projects toward impactful outcomes. This complemented Waseda University’s relentless pursuit of cutting edge research in various fields.
Mr Lim added: “This partnership will bring together the broad and deep fundamental research know-how and technologies from Waseda University; with the translational research and development capabilities of Singapore Polytechnic.”
Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), both institutions will start with collaborative R&D in biomedical sciences. This includes developing applied bioimaging technologies and solutions to screen and test tissue samples for a range of diseases such as cancer. The five-year partnership will bring together scientists and technologies from SP and WU, which has a research presence in Singapore since 2009 through the Waseda Bioscience Research Institute.
“With this MOU, Waseda University and Singapore Polytechnic will pursue joint research projects in areas of mutual interest starting with biomedical research. We will hold joint symposiums in other focus areas such as robotics, food technologies, advanced materials and sports technologies on an annual or bi-annual basis,” said Mr Lim. “By tapping on Waseda University’s expertise and patents, SP can learn from one of the world’s best and boost our research efforts in order to develop beneficial technologies and solutions for the industry as well as the community.”
At the signing ceremony, Mr Lim shared that discussions and plans are underway to set-up a joint research laboratory within SP. This will house a segment of the Waseda Bioscience Research Institute which is currently based at Biopolis.
The inaugural Joint Biomedical Symposium 2013 was held in conjunction with the signing ceremony, with over 100 participants from SP, institutions of higher learning and industry attending.
Published by Dept of Corporate Communications