Abstract:

The Hitachi Group is promoting Social Innovation Business across a wide range of fields, from Green Energy to Digital Services, Automation, and Healthcare, aiming for a sustainable society. Our Research & Development Group is focused on accelerating the creation of innovation through DX (Digital Transformation) and GX (Green Transformation) by advancing “innovation that transforms customer experiences” and “innovation that addresses fundamental societal challenges.” For the latter, we are focusing on R&D aimed at realizing an “environmentally neutral society,” “a 100-year active society,” and “co-evolution between digital, people, and society” by backcasting from the ideal society in 2050, while also fostering ecosystems with academia and startups. As part of these efforts, we are conducting research on CO2 value conversion toward carbon neutrality using Synthetic Biology and Generative AI, designing cells with desired functions for cancer treatment, and developing technologies for cell manufacturing in regenerative medicine.

In this presentation, I would like to give an overview of the above efforts based on technological trends such as generative AI, focusing on healthcare and synthetic biology.

Speaker’s bio:

Koike joined Hitachi after completing her M.Sc. at Kyoto University in 1994. At the Central Research Laboratory, she was involved in the development of biomedical knowledge processing and genome analytics before focusing on technology development and productization of medical diagnostic・therapeutic equipment. After working in the business side of Hitachi in the Government & Public Corporation Information Systems Division, in the Future Investment Division at Head Office, and as CTO of Healthcare Business Division, she assumed her current position as head of the Technology Strategy Office.

Koike received her Ph.D. from the University of Kyoto in 1999. She has also held several positions in academia including visiting associate professor from 2003-2005 at the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, and more recently, a visiting professor at Tohoku University from 2014-2018.