Kihara Memorial
Yokohama Foundation
for the Advancement of
Life Sciences
We are a nonprofit organization that provides support for the furtherance of research in the life sciences as well as related industries.
Hitoshi Kihara was a global-scale pioneer who established the genome concept and made major achievements in the fields of genetics and evolution theory.
Professor Kihara defined the life sciences as “a general vehicle for all fields related to life, and a combined art form in pursuit of survival for the human race.”
In today's world, we face challenges such as rapidly-spreading infectious diseases, environmental pollution, resource depletion, excessive population growth and other issues that threaten the future of humankind. If we simply sit back and let these things take their course, we are inviting our own downfall as a species. Moreover, the planet Earth is inhabited not just by humans, but by a wide range of other living things, and our existence depends on them.
Just as doctors strive to prevent diseases and also treat them, we hope to use the life sciences as a doctor for Earth. To this end, the Kihara Foundation provides various types of support for the researchers who pursue advancements in this field, as well as for the startups who hope to change the future through the life sciences.
Foundation Overview
- Name:
- Kihara Memorial Yokohama Foundation for the Advancement of Life Sciences
- Address:
- Yokohama Bio Industry Center, 1-6 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture 230-0045
- Date of Founding:
- March 12, 1985
- Asset worth:
- approx. ¥800 million
- President:
- Dr. Yasuo Ohno
- Goal:
-
To promote the life sciences and their application based in Kanagawa Prefecture to stimulate industrial vitalization through academic exchanges, incentives, and support that widely convey the importance of the life sciences throughout society, through the organization of joint life-science research projects between universities, research facilities, and industry, as well as through the promotion of organic collaboration therein and self-motivated engagement in joint research projects.
- Activities:
-
- Academic promotion, and dissemination and furtherance of knowledge, in relation to the life sciences
- Planning, promotion and implementation of joint research and similar activities in the life sciences
- Support for industrial vitalization through useful applications of the life sciences
- Establishment, management and operation of research facilities for the sake of industry cluster development and technological support in relation to the life sciences
- Other activities as necessary to meet additional goals