In 2021, Fujitsu Limited established the new business brand, “Fujitsu Uvance,” to achieve its purpose of “delivering trust to society through innovation and creating a more sustainable world.”
We spoke with Mr. Tatsuki Araki, the Head of “Healthy Living” division - one of Fujitsu Uvance’s key focus areas - about the vision behind “Healthy Living,” it’s recent initiatives, and how Speeda Edge Market Intelligence is integrated into its daily operations.
"Healthy Living is one of the seven key focus areas defined by Fujitsu Uvance, aiming to maximize people's life experiences.
Fujitsu Uvance is designed to address social issues across industries, with three key pillars:
“Planet,” which focuses on solving environmental issues
“Prosperity,” which promotes the development of a digital society
“People,” which aims to enhance well-being.
Healthy Living primarily addresses the 'People' category by improving well-being. The division spans healthcare and life sciences, supporting initiatives such as:
Healthy Living Platform: Collects and processes healthcare data generated from medical information systems, such as electronic health records.
Patient-centric Clinical Trials: Uses generative AI to manage innovative digital clinical trial environments and health data focused on the patient. This platform provides end-to-end support for clinical trials, from planning to regulatory submission, improving efficiency in complex clinical development processes."
"There are two reasons. One is that the access gap is a significant industry issue. Whether there is an appropriate market is one of the criteria for selecting markets for Fujitsu's business ventures, and the magnitude of the issue naturally indicates the presence of a large market.
The other reason is that it is a market where Fujitsu can leverage its competitive advantage. Solving the drug access gap requires conducting clinical trials in Japan, which necessitates expertise not only in life sciences, but also in healthcare. Fujitsu Group has expertise in medical information systems, a solid business foundation, and most importantly, a trusted relationship with a broad network of healthcare providers. These strengths, developed over many years, are not easily matched by other companies. Strategically, we believe Fujitsu is uniquely positioned in this space.
Additionally, the partnership with Paradigm Health, Inc., formed during the conception of the clinical trials business, became a crucial step. Paradigm’s goals to reduce the drug access gap and transform the life sciences sector align with the vision of Healthy Living, and we are confident that this collaboration will generate strong synergies."
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"I’ve been using it since the early stages of setting up our Corporate Development division. I frequently use it to explore market sizes, players, competitors, and fundraising trends.
In the case of our partnership with Paradigm, in addition to speaking directly with Paradigm, we used Speeda Edge to objectively assess Paradigm's position in the market. Specifically, I looked at industry overview reports for "Clinical Trial Technology," market size, and funding history of key players.
Additionally, I viewed company information for potential partnerships on individual startup pages, performed competitive comparisons, and read news articles and industry trend reports from various market segments."
"Absolutely. As an example, let’s pose the question of what we can do as a global business in the healthcare sector.
Regulations related to healthcare vary by country, so I start by assuming that a uniform business rollout will be challenging when I review the industry pages. I research what kind of players are operating in various regions such as Europe, America, and India, and use this information to help draft strategies for entering as a global player.
One unique feature of Speeda Edge is its segmentation of innovation technologies based on market issues. This feature is not found in other services. Speaking of the information gathering before partnering with Paradigm, there was a segment on "Clinical Trial Technology." We build our business portfolio aligned with social issues to solve, so having this segmentation is extremely beneficial."
"Speeda Edge has drastically reduced the time needed for market research and strategy development. As a business division, we don’t only create strategies—we also execute them.
To start putting together a strategy, we need to start with the minimum amount of necessary information for decision-making. Previously, to gather even this minimum amount of necessary information, multiple people had to collect information from various media and resources, analyze them, and compile the results, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive.
With the use of Speeda Edge, we can now obtain the information we need quickly and accurately. Since the industry segmentations we envision already exist, this not only saves time but enables one person to handle the work that was previously shared among an entire team.
Speeda Edge has become indispensable for efficiently collecting the essential information we need for decision-making. It even enables us to present well-organized reports directly from the analysis results, which is very convenient."
"Currently, we have just started addressing the significant issue with drug access gap, so the first step is to properly collect and process medical data to leverage it in planning clinical trials. Of course, planning alone is not enough; clinical trials need to be run in Japan. To achieve this, we are resolving issues in the execution phase.
Fujitsu has long been involved in clinical trials, but currently, it offers solutions unique to Japan. Through this partnership, both Fujitsu and Paradigm aim to utilize each other's data effectively to streamline clinical trial planning operations and reduce their duration. Eventually, we plan to integrate this process from drug discovery to research and development, allowing data to flow seamlessly. Our goal is to create a society where patients can access the medications they need and choose treatments suited to their individual needs.
In realizing such a society, it is crucial to always ensure that treatments respect human dignity and that individuals have the autonomy to make their own treatment decisions. While seeking efficiency, we must avoid reducing treatment decisions to mere data-driven suggestions, as if viewing humans as machines and reducing their treatment to mere optimizations. Clinical trials, which involve administering drugs to the human body, carry significant risks. At Healthy Living, we view well-being as each individual being the "author of their own life." We intend to maintain this philosophy at the core of our future business endeavors."
Tatsuki Araki began his career in legal affairs at Fujitsu in 2010, later served as a visiting scholar at the think tank CSIS in Washington DC, and engaged in the establishment of a new company and new business development in Vancouver. In 2020, he founded the new organization Strategic Growth & Investments (SG&I), where he handled domestic and international M&As, capital business partnerships and joint ventures, venture investments, and new business development, serving as the head of the department and Lead of Capital Alliances. He has been in his current position as Head of Healthy Living at Fujitsu since April 1, 2024.
