Fujitsu and Tokai National Higher Education and Research System sign partnership to create wellbeing society and develop space technologies, contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and Society 5.0

Feb 24, 2023 14:24 JST

Source: Fujitsu Ltd

TOKYO, Feb 24, 2023 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu and Tokai National Higher Education and Research System (hereinafter THERS) today announced the signing of a partnership to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and the realization of Society 5.0 (1) through initiatives in the fields of healthcare and space technology.

Figure 1. Overview of healthcare initiatives

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of initiatives in the space field

As part of their partnership, Fujitsu and THERS will work toward the realization of a wellbeing society through the creation of a virtuous cycle model of community-based health and medical care in the Japanese Tokai region (2). To improve local health services and contribute to the resolution of various societal issues, Fujitsu and THERS will leverage life design research results of THERS' Center for Research, Education, and Development for Healthcare Life Design (3) (hereinafter, C-REX) and advanced technologies including an electronic medical record system developed by Fujitsu Japan (4) and Fujitsu's AI technologies.

The two parties will further collaborate on the development of space technologies including systems for space weather forecasting to solve challenges related to human exploration of outer space. To enable more precise countermeasures to various weather phenomena in space, Fujitsu and THERS will leverage world-class space weather prediction models and satellite and ground observation databases of the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research (hereinafter ISEE) at Nagoya University and Fujitsu's supercomputing technology for large-scale simulations and AI based data analysis technologies.

Outline of the partnership and areas of cooperation

1. Healthcare - Creation of a local, patient-centered health and medical ecosystem

Community-based health services and medical services play an important role in the realization of a sustainable, human-centered wellbeing society.

To realize a data-driven virtuous cycle model for community-based health and medical care, and ultimately contribute to the creation of a patient-centered ecosystem and wellbeing society, Fujitsu and THERS will accumulate health examination data collected in cooperation with medical institutions and local governments in the Tokai region collaborating with C-REX, as well as patients' medical information from smart devices, medical checkups and electronic medical records on a platform for managing individual healthcare data developed by Fujitsu. Fujitsu and THERS will further establish a new cloud-based data analytics center for analyzing the accumulated data by leveraging Fujitsu's AI technology and medical knowledge from THERS' data scientists.

Fujitsu is promoting this initiative as part of its vision for "Healthy Living," one of its key focus areas under its global business brand Fujitsu Uvance, to help create a world that enriches the life experience of everyone. Based on the analysis results from this project, Fujitsu will develop new healthcare-related services in Japan, contributing to the resolution of societal issues, including the prevention of frailty.

2. Safety in space - improvement of space weather forecast simulations to solve challenges related to human exploration of outer space

In addition to classical weather forecasting, space weather forecasting - the prediction of weather phenomena in space including solar flares, sunspots, solar winds and radiation - has been gaining growing attention amid increasing human activities in outer space. To enable more precise countermeasures to various weather phenomena in space from the ground and the geosphere, and ultimately ensure safe exploration of outer space, Fujitsu and THERS will work to improve the accuracy and speed of forecast simulations. To improve prediction models for space weather forecast simulations, Fujitsu and THERS will leverage large-scale simulation, tuning, and data analysis technologies for the supercomputer "Flow" (provided by Fujitsu to Nagoya University in 2020) in combination with ISEE's data from ground observation satellites and prediction models for solar surface phenomena.

Fujitsu and THERS will further collaborate to train talent toward the future institutionalization of space weather forecasting to ensure safe exploration in the earth atmosphere, on the moon, Mars and interplanetary space.

(1) Society 5.0:
Japanese government initiative which aims to create a future based on a "human-centered society that balances economic advancement with the resolution of social problems by a system that highly integrates cyberspace and physical space." (Source: Japanese Cabinet Office, www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html）
(2) Japanese Tokai region:
Subregion of the Japanese Chubu and Kansai region, including Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures.
(3) Center for Research, Education, and Development for Healthcare Life Design :
Name will be changed from Center for Healthcare Information Technology to Center for Research, Education, and Development for Healthcare Life Design due to organizational reform in April 2023.
(4) Fujitsu Japan Limited:
Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; COO and Representative Director of the Board: Takayuki Sunada.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu's purpose is to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation. As the digital transformation partner of choice for customers in over 100 countries, our 124,000 employees work to resolve some of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Our range of services and solutions draw on five key technologies: Computing, Networks, AI, Data & Security, and Converging Technologies, which we bring together to deliver sustainability transformation. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$32 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022 and remains the top digital services company in Japan by market share. Find out more: www.fujitsu.com.

Source: Fujitsu Ltd
Sectors: Cloud & Enterprise