KOA Facility (SU)

Director: Koichi Matsuo (Professor, School of Medicine)

Main Campus: Shinanomachi

The Keio-Med Open Access (KOA) Facility, the predecessor of the KOA Facility (SU), worked for ten years starting in 2009 to advance and improve the convenience of research equipment in the medical and life sciences fields, centered on the Collaborative Research Resources of the School of Medicine (Shinanomachi Campus). Opening its doors to the industrial sector, it collaborated with the Electron Microscope Laboratory (Shinanomachi Campus), the Central Service Facilities for Science and Technology Research (Yagami Campus), and the Faculty of Pharmacy (Shiba-Kyoritsu Campus), among others, to promote the "visualization" of research equipment across faculties and build a "Shared Support Web System."

Building on this legacy, the KOA Facility (SU) is now entering a new phase, aiming to become a network hub that not only promotes advanced academic research but also facilitates the expansion into corporate research for commercialization.

Building a network for the mutual use of research equipment in the medical and life sciences fields

■ Activities Continuing from FY2019: Background, Rationale, and Goals for Continuation

In fiscal year 2020, the second and final year of the MEXT's Program for Promoting the Shared Use of Advanced Research Infrastructure (SHARE), we will promote the development of the "ABC Problem-Solving Shared System Network."

Task A (Improving Accessibility, etc.): We will formulate and publish specifications that contribute to the standardization of data description methods and interconnection of shared systems, and share this information with other institutions. This will enable system-level interconnection between the shared systems of participating institutions.

Task B (Introducing Corporate Support, etc.): We will build a remote support system that allows technicians from multiple companies (support companies) providing research equipment and technical support, as well as technicians from university shared facilities, to offer technical support to remote users through the shared network.

Task C (Community Building, etc.): The network's administrative office will handle communication and administrative tasks, and plan and manage project promotion meetings. In cooperation with other participating institutions, we will also consider appropriate inter-university agreements based on the rules of each institution and feedback from users, and explore and work toward realizing a post-project network structure, such as a multi-institutional consortium agreement.

■ New Activity Goals, Content, and Background for FY2020

To prepare for application to the MEXT's "Core Facility Construction Support Program," which will be newly established in fiscal year 2020, we will spend the year deepening information sharing with the Office for Research Coordination and Administration, the university's central administrative body, and prepare to create a framework that enables collaboration across faculties.

■ Implementation Details, Research Outcomes, and Degree of Achievement Relative to the Fiscal Year Business Plan

In fiscal year 2019, the first year of the MEXT's Program for Promoting the Shared Use of Advanced Research Infrastructure (SHARE), we worked on building the "ABC Problem-Solving Shared System Network."

We promoted the introduction and operation of the "Shared Support Web System" (SimpRent), which was developed under the New Shared Use Project (a three-year project from FY2016 to FY2018) and features functions such as cross-faculty "visualization" of research equipment, reservations, usage records, and invoice issuance. In terms of inter-university collaboration, we partnered with Shinshu University (a national university corporation) and Tokyo Metropolitan University (a public university corporation). We defined and addressed challenges related to networking shared facilities among the three universities (private, national, and public) as Task A (Improving Accessibility, etc.), Task B (Introducing Corporate Support, etc.), and Task C (Community Building, etc.). We were able to leverage the networking experience of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Science and Technology, and Faculty of Pharmacy at Keio University, which helped advance the project.

Public relations activities and information gathering through on-site visits:

The full-scale operation of the "Shared Support Web System" (SimpRent) has begun, laying the foundation for a means to overcome barriers between faculties and universities.