October 30, 2014
Masaru Tomita, Director of the Institute for Advanced Biosciences and Professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies, has received the Special Award at the University-based Venture Awards 2014.
This award is a new program launched this fiscal year by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). It honors outstanding ventures founded on the achievements of universities and other institutions that show great promise for future success, as well as the universities and companies that have significantly contributed to their growth.
Comments from Professor Masaru Tomita
Spiber Inc., the first company in the world to succeed in establishing mass-production technology for artificial spider silk, was founded in 2007 by Kazuhide Sekiyama and Junichi Sugahara while they were graduate students at the Graduate School of Media and Governance. They had started their research in 2004 as undergraduate students at SFC.
Spider silk is truly a dream fiber: stronger than steel when bundled, elastic, lightweight, highly heat-resistant, petroleum-independent, and biodegradable.
The company is headquartered in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, next to the Keio University Institute for Advanced Biosciences, and currently has approximately 60 employees.
Another bio-venture from Keio Tsuruoka, Human Metabolome Technologies, Inc., was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers market in December 2013, becoming the only publicly traded company headquartered in Tsuruoka City.
I am proud of them and their SFC spirit, challenging a dream once thought impossible and creating an industry from scratch in a regional area to revitalize Japan.
★ Photo: A dress made of artificially synthesized spider silk developed by Spiber Inc., supported by the Institute for Advanced Biosciences (© Spiber Inc.)
→ Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) & Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) "University-based Venture Awards 2014" List of Winners
Source: General Affairs (Public Relations) Section, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) Office