Message from the Director

With the United Nations paving the way for a better and more sustainable future by adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the international community has begun to strive for a “bioeconomy,” with the aim of reconciling economic growth with environmentally responsible action through the strategic use of biological resources and biotechnology.
Some countries have already taken the initiative in this regard by, for example, making efficient use of biomass and other renewable resources and applying environmentally friendly biotechnology to the manufacturing of functional materials and general-purpose chemicals that help to enrich our lives.

Recent years have seen revolutionary developments in biotechnologies that include DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, and genome synthesis/editing, which have been harnessed to engineering biology that can trigger hitherto unavailable “potential biofunctions.” Driving this rapid progress in the biotech industry are increased automation and Internet connectivity among devices (i.e., the Internet of Things, or “IoT”) through the use of big data and robotics.

Established on July 1, 2018, the Engineering Biology Research Center (EGBRC) at Kobe University is charged with the mission of exploring the frontiers of engineering biology by leveraging Kobe University’s unique features and strengths. The EGBRC is also the sole research center in Japan that aims to create innovation in this emerging interdisciplinary field.

Our goal is to make the EGBRC a hub for innovation that combines “hardware,” or tangibles such as research space and equipment, and “software,” or intangibles such as researchers and intellectual property. We will achieve this by building and expanding a research and development platform while simultaneously promoting advanced research and development through industry-university-government collaboration.

Building on our extensive track records of teaching/researching engineering biology and partnerships with outside institutions, we intend to shape the bioeconomy by creating the kinds of innovations that meet demand from the government and society at large, including bioproduction of a variety of useful substances.

I ask for your kind support and cooperation for our endeavors.

HASUNUMA Tomohisa
Director
Engineering Biology Research Center, Kobe University