President and President-Elect of the IFMBE attend the 1st JSMBE/JFMI Joint Conference and METI and NEDO Workshops on the Research and Development of Medical and Welfare Equipment and Technology

In mid-November 2002, Professor Dov Jaron, President, and Professor Joachim Nagel, President-Elect of the IFMBE (International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering) had the opportunity and pleasure of spending a week in Japan. They were presenting tutorial lectures as invited speakers at METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) workshops on "The Research and Development of Medical and Welfare Equipment and Technology for a Healthy Life Expectancy Extension", which were held at the International Conference Hall of Across Fukuoka, Kyushu, in Western Japan on November 14th. These workshops were organised as part of the attractive program of the 16th Autumn Conference of the Japanese Society for Medical and Biological Engineering (JSMBE). The conference was a historical event for the JSMBE because it was the first joint conference with the Japanese Federation for the Medical Informatics Society. Professor Zenmei Nose of Kyushu University served as President of the joint conference.

In recent years, the JSMBE has strengthened cooperative ties with the academic societies in the peripheral fields of biomedical engineering through various activities including co-organising conferences, and fortunately for us, this joint conference became symbolic.

In addition, an international symposium entitled "The New Medical Equipment Technology for Health and Medicine in the 21st Century - Compare the Approach in Japan and the World" was consecutively held at the Ohtemachi Sankei Plaza in Tokyo on November 18th. The symposium was organised by METI and NEDO, co-organised by the JSMBE, the Science Council of Japan (the Committee on Biomedical Engineering and the Biomedical Engineering Section of the National Committee for Humanity and Technology) and supported by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei is the most widely read newspaper among economists in Japan).

Through their activities the organisers, the co-organisers and the supporters of these conferences clearly showed that R&D in healthcare technology, from basic science to industrial application technologies, has become a major social subject in Japan due to the many serious problems emerging in the ever aging society.

To further intensify R&D activities in medical technology in Japan, METIS (the Medical Engineering Technology Industrial Strategy Consortium) was established in March 2001, considering that the United States NIH (National Institutes of Health) had organised BECON (the Bioengineering Consortium) and, based on BECON, the NIH established NIBIB (the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering) in December 2001. Until that time, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) had no functional scheme to propel R&D activities in medical technology at national level that would unify the various related fields as the United States had in the NIH. That was the original reason for demanding the establishment of METIS.

In Japan, driven by the active efforts of the Council for Science and Technology Policy and the Council for Biotechnology Strategy, the Government initiated science and technology promotion policies in 2001 in an effort to strengthen the country's industrial competitiveness worldwide. Among target industries, the medial equipment industry is regarded as important because it will contribute to medical services and the nations health in the 21st Century. So METIS, consisting of industry, academia, government and the medical community, was inaugurated as the controlling agency of Japan's technological development strategy.

The METIS missions are to:

1. examine strategies at macro level for the whole process; from R&D to marketing toward the improvement in the technological capabilities of the medical equipment and device industry, that will contribute to the progress of medical services and the nation's health while at the same time enhancing international competitiveness,
2. function as a mechanism to improve the social recognition of the importance of medical equipment, and
3. function as a steering committee to select individual projects.

In order to achieve these missions the consortium will not only have discussions, conduct research and make recommendations, but it will also put such proposals and recommendations into practice based on specific plans. Additionally, from the consumer point of view, an effort will be made to educate the public and promote these concepts in order to gain public awareness and acceptance. METIS will not only target the medical equipment field but also the expanding areas of science and engineering, including biotechnology and information technology, which are now integral parts of medical science.

To realise this goal, cooperation is imperative among:

1. the industry circles including the existing medical equipment and device industry along with current non-medical industries that will no doubt enter the medical science field in the future,
2. governments responsible for the implementation of policies,
3. universities and institutes that support the industrial base in the aspects of both human resources and intellectual properties, and
4. the medical world as a whole, broadly ranging from basic research to clinical study.

On the other hand, as we currently live in an age of globalization, specific activities will be undertaken cooperating with consumers, the medical community, and organizations concerned with development along with private enterprises in foreign countries. Of course, these activities will occur in fields currently regarded as important, such as those integrated with biotechnological information technology, and special consideration will be given to the examinations determining priority. Recommendations should be made from a strategic point of view, and continuous efforts toward the realisation of those recommendations should be maintained.

METIS, organised based on the structure shown in Figure 1, should be the "all Japan" strategy advisory committee consisting of personnel from a wide range of fields not limited to industry, academia, government and the medical community. The Strategy Planning Committee, with the important function of a steering committee, is chaired by Professor Makoto Kikuchi and consists of seven members representing the related academic institutes and an additional seven representing the related industrial fields. The administrative liaison conferences for exchanging opinions and information on mainly budget allocation among the ministries concerned are held and attended by people from METI, MHLW, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications and a competent minister representing information technology.

The Japan Federation of Medical Devices Association (JFMDA) is responsible for the METIS Secretariat and, compared with the Unites States BECON, has a function more directly targeting industrial promotion.

The international symposium, held against the backdrop of the rising tide of promoting biomedical engineering in academia and industry, was an extremely significant one. On behalf of the United States, which holds a commanding 40% share of the world medical technology market, Professor Dov Jaron delivered a keynote address on the medical technology industry entitled, "The Role of Biomedical Engineering in Biomedical Research and Industrial Development". On behalf of the EU with a 25% share of the same, Professor Joachim Nagel presented a keynote address on human resource development entitled, "Educational Programs for the Enhancement of Human Resources and the Augmentation of Technical Advancement in the Field of Medical Engineering in Europe". From Japan, with a 15% share, Professor Shogo Ueno, the current President of the JSMBE, gave a lecture on human resource development entitled, "Cooperation between Academic Bodies and Industries Related to Biomedical Engineering Activities in Japan", and Professor Fumihiko Kajiya, past President of the IFMBE, gave a lecture entitled the "Expectation to the Medical Engineering Technology Industrial Strategy Consortium in Japan". The lectures were followed by a general discussion chaired by Professor Makoto Kikuchi, and lectures on "Japanese Government Policies on Medical Engineering Development" by Dr. Yutaka Takuma (President of JFMDA, immediate former President of the Hitachi Medico Corporation) representing industry and Mr. Shinji Okamura (METI) representing the Japanese Government.

Furthermore, there has been a heated debate, in which public opinion concerning the importance of medical technology development and its expectancy, was stated by Mr. Masami Nakamura, a journalist (Editor, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc.). The debate was a result of an informative survey on the most challenging medical technology and advances for the future of R&D, human resource development and industrial promotion in the field of the biomedical engineering in the world market. The Fukuoka venue attracted more than 150 attendants and about 300 people enrolled in the Tokyo venue. Consequently this international symposium turned out to be a significant and beneficial opportunity to estimate the current R&D status and future movement in medical equipment technology in both Japan and Western countries.

For your reference, at the Fukuoka venue, some national research and development projects were introduced, e.g., the New Diagnostic and Treatment System for Cardiovascular Disease, the High-Speed 3D-CT using a Cone-Beam X-ray, the Ultrasonic-Based Tissue Characterisation System of the Arterial Wall for Treatment, and the Advanced Support System for Endoscopic and other Minimally Invasive Surgery. These projects have been taken up by NEDO through The National Research and Development Program for Medical and Welfare Apparatus. A program organised in 1976, in which an individual project had a duration of 3 to 5 years, a 400- to 500-million-yen budget and was conducted by a cooperative team of industrial concerns and academic/research institutes. 51 of the projects were completed by 1999, while 19 are still in progress. The "Fundamental Research Program for Advanced Medical Apparatus Undertaken in Cooperation with Medical and Engineering Researchers," and the disclosure of the information on these projects, provide an ideal opportunity for key players around the world to reflect on the future status of technological progress, and the industrial development in biomedical engineering in Japan and Western countries. It was also a good opportunity for the President and the President-Elect to reexamine and reconfirm the future role of the IFMBE.

The President and the President-Elect of the IFMBE must have had a splendid view of the autumn colors through the windows of the Shinkansen as they sped along between Fukuoka and Tokyo. We hope they had a little time in their busy schedules between giving lectures in Fukuoka and then in Tokyo to enjoy the natural beauty of the season over the weekend. And we hope they have become aware of our passionate devotion, through the cooperative efforts of industry, academia, government and the medical community, and our national commitment to Japanese research and development in medical technology. That, along with everything else, must surely have made them think about the new direction in the evolution of the IFMBE activity plans for 2003.

Prof. Makoto Kikuchi