Bayer HealthCare and Kyoto University’s Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation (KU-SACI) have signed a two-year collaboration agreement to jointly identify candidates for possible collaborative research projects. The partners will focus on key areas of worldwide unmet medical need such as cardiology, oncology, hematology, gynaecology, and ophthalmology.

This collaboration is part of Bayer’s overall approach to partner with external partners from academia and industry to discover and develop new treatment options for patients worldwide. Recently launched collaborations include for example the strategic research alliance in the area of gynecological therapies with the University of Oxford, UK, or with Dimension Therapeutics for the development and commercialisation of a novel gene therapy for the treatment of hemophilia A. Furthermore, Bayer has established two research incubators for young life sciences companies in the context of its open innovation approach. Dubbed “Collaborator” at Bayer’s research and development sites in San Francisco’s Mission Bay, USA, and Berlin, Germany, these research incubators create an ideal environment in which to advance research and innovation.

The agreement with KU-SACI aims at jointly leveraging Kyoto University’s expertise and innovative approaches in diverse research areas and combining it with Bayer’s expertise in drug discovery and development. The endeavor will be supported by Bayer’s newly established “Open Innovation Center Japan” (ICJ) in Osaka, Japan.

The threefold mission of the Office of Society-Academia Collaboration for Innovation is (1) to promote collaborative research among academia, industries and the government, (2) to manage and utilise the university’s intellectual properties through licencing & research collaboration with industries, and (3) to support business start-ups by university researchers or students. As a result of its recent activities, KU-SACI is scored first or second place among all Japanese universities based on the amount of patent licencing revenue and sponsored research grant from industry.

The Bayer Open Innovation Center in Japan was launched on June 1, 2014. The ICJ’s main activities are focused on identifying potential collaborative research projects in Japan that explore the mechanisms of diseases related to significant unmet medical needs and to advance the development of innovative therapeutic drugs for those diseases.

Kyoto University was founded in 1897 as the second oldest imperial university in Japan. Since that time, Kyoto University has remained faithful to its principle of “academic freedom” and has focused its efforts in developing a strong sense of purpose reflected in its mission statement: “To sustain and develop its historical commitment to academic freedom and pursue a state of harmonious coexistence within the human and ecological community on this planet.”

The Bayer Group is a global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture and high-tech materials. Bayer HealthCare, a subgroup of Bayer AG with annual sales of EUR 18.9 billion (2013), is one of the world’s leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry and is based in Leverkusen, Germany.