CO-CREATION OF HEALTHCARE INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION PLATFORM: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (MOU) BETWEEN LEAVE A NEST CO. LTD. AND UNIVERSITI KEBANGSAAN MALAYSIA (UKM)

On 14th August 2022, Leave a Nest Co. Ltd. (LVNS), the leading science bridge communication company in Japan, has formed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Fakulti Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) / Medical Faculty, The National University of Malaysia. The MoU was signed by Dr. Yukihiro Maru (Representative Director Group CEO of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd.) and Prof. Dato' Dr. Hanafiah Harunarashid (Pro Vice Chancellor (Kuala Lumpur Campus) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia). The signing was witnessed by Dr. Yuko Ueno (Director of Leave a Nest Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.) and Prof. Dr Abdul Halim Abdul Gafor (Dean of Medical Faculty). The objective of the MoU is to foster research collaboration in healthcare innovation and commercialization.

Under this MoU framework, part of the understanding is including joint research collaboration in healthcare innovation and commercialization as well as research opportunities for UKM students at LVNS or its affiliates. Prof. Dato' Dr. Hanafiah provides a remark on this MoU saying that “With this collaboration, UKM is looking forward to generating more graduates that have entrepreneurship skills and mindset. Furthermore, UKM could work together with industry to solve global issues or challenges by offering knowledge, expertise and the high end equipment available at the medical faculty”. Meanwhile, Dr. Yukihiro Maru also left a remark, “LVNS had been established 20 years ago with the vision advancing science and technology for global happiness. Now, LVNS is expanding globally and planning to have Malaysia as the focal point of knowledge manufacturing. Hence, the collaboration with universities in Malaysia is important in this direction.

UKM was established on 18th May 1970 with the vision to accord Bahasa Melayu as the language of learning and scholarship, since then successfully produced intellectuals and scholars who are among the nation’s pride. Now, UKM is ranked in the top 3 universities in Malaysia according to QS World University Rankings. The medical faculty under UKM started to operate on 30th May 1972 with the 1st batch of 44 students enrolled in pre-medical courses and now had produced more than 10, 000 medical doctors and 4, 000 specialists. With the vision to become a knowledgeable and competitive medical academy hub based on knowledge, innovation and a team of dedicated medical professionals in building a healthy and informed society. The faculty is in direction to foster more innovation and research collaboration.

LVNS was founded by 15 graduate students in the field of science and engineering in 2001 and continues to this day. LVNS operates by identifying issues and gathering the knowledge of researchers from around the world to solve the issue, generating new value or knowledge. This is known as the Knowledge Manufacturing Process. To date, more than 2000 teams of research groups or startups from Japan and 1129 from South East Asia are within the LVNS ecosystem. They work on deep technology that could address deep issues and work together with other teams or corporations. Healthcare is among the fields they are working on and with the support from UKM in the LVNS ecosystem, this will spur more healthcare innovation through collaboration. Besides, LVNS could shed their knowledge in nurturing graduates that possess technopreneurship which could contribute back to society by solving any deep issue.

With this MoU, LVNS is expected to offer their experiences in science bridge communication through lectures and programs with UKM as centre. Furthermore, the collaboration of LVNS with UKM will provide a support ecosystem for medical technology startups to grow in Malaysia. Ultimately, immense number of technologies or knowledge in healthcare innovation will be generated that could benefit society.

For more information on this MoU, please E-Mail to [email protected] to understand further.

Figure 1: MoU ceremony, exchanged of MoU document between UKM and Leave a Nest

Figure 2: Prof. Dato' Dr. Hanafiah deliver a welcoming remark

Figure 3: Dr. Yukihiro Maru shared his though on the MoU

Figure 4: Representative of UKM and delegates from Leave a Nest