April 2017 to March 2018

Hajime Yamada (General Manager, Accessibility Study Group; Professor Emeritus, Toyo University）
Takashi Kawazoe (President, Carepro, Inc.)
Naoki Sakakibara (Associate Professor, Faculty of Human Studies, Seisen Jogakuin College)
Chika Sekine (Chairperson and Senior Fellow, UDIT Inc.)
Isamu Hirao (President, Regional manegement Platinum lnstitute)
Keiko Fujikata (NPO Shonan Fujisawa Senior Network)
Naomi Yatomi (Cooperating Fellow, General Aging Society Research Organization, University of Tokyo; Representative Director, SLF Second Life Factory)
Kazuko Yuma (Chief Fellow, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies)

   The recent emergence of new innovations such as IoT, big data, robots, and artificial intelligence has facilitated the creation of innovative businesses and services, the likes of which have never been seen before. The possibility of creating entirely new added value in the “Society 5.0” era is also growing. In 2018, a six-yearly funding review scheme was introduced for health-related fields such as healthcare, medical care, and nursing care. This has become an important milestone for these sectors. There is an urgent need for the construction of a sustainable mechanism for social security expenditure, which is increasing rapidly due to the aging of society and advances in medical care. IoT devices such as sensors and wearable devices have made significant inroads into the healthcare sector, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is also progressing. Even in the funding review for medicine and nursing, studies are being made with a view to utilizing these cutting-edge technologies, and are expected to greatly boost innovation in the fields of health, medicine and nursing.

   In this study, we conducted a workshop-style examination of the use of AI/IoT and other ICT measures that lead to innovations in the fields of healthcare, medicine and nursing. In addition to the policy trends of related ministries and agencies, we also conducted case studies of patient washing in Fukuoka City and Saga Prefecture, and at Saga University’s Medical Innovation Project Laboratory, and we conducted field studies of AI trends in Finland and Living Lab/Smart Home projects in the Netherlands.

   This report summarizes eight recommendations based on our findings, and in order to promote innovation in the fields of health, medicine, nursing and healthcare in a broader sense, we highlight the importance of evidence-based EBPM for policy formation as well as evidence-based medical EBM.
   In connection with this research, we held a symposium on AI/IoT usage and innovation in the healthcare field on March 26, 2017.