What do you think of when you think of Okinawa? Brown sugar, beautiful beaches, coral reefs or leisurely vacation life? Yes, these are the deep impressions that Okinawa gives people. Lemon, water cloud, turmeric and other health-care ingredients are also well-known in Japan. Okinawa is known as the island of longevity, but did you know that Okinawa is also an important town for the development of biotechnology in Japan?

Today (March 25), the Biomedical Industry Innovation Promotion Program Implementation Center invited manufacturers who went to Okinawa to communicate with the local biomedical industry in February this year to hold a Taiwan-Japan industry exchange meeting in the Hsinchu Biomedical Park, hoping to promote bilateral mutual Investing, setting up factories and business exchanges, looking forward to combining Taiwan's advantages in clinical medicine and biotechnology manufacturing, and Japan's strengths in innovative R&D and international marketing channels, to create new opportunities for Taiwan and Japan's biotechnology industry cooperation.

It was mentioned in the meeting that it is hoped that Taiwanese manufacturers can form a national team to advance the Japanese market together. In the short term, they can establish a joint venture company or a Taiwanese company that has established roots in Okinawa Prefecture, is familiar with local regulations, and is responsible for the processing and manufacturing of products. To reduce the time for Taiwanese manufacturers to explore and integrate into the local industrial ecosystem. On the one hand, Taiwan’s high-quality and affordable products are also promoted to the Japanese market. In the long run, it is possible to combine the power of the government and the resources of manufacturers to jointly build an international brand of Taiwanese biomedical products, and jointly contribute funds, enter the Japanese market and international marketing, and improve the international visibility and added value of Taiwanese brands.

In order to accelerate international linkages, the Biomedical Innovation Executive Center has recently actively initiated waves of exchange activities with the Japanese industry and academia. Okinawa Prefecture has Japan's unique advantages as a special economic zone, attracting the attention of many manufacturers, and has also become a beachhead for the biomedical innovation execution center to promote Taiwan's industry to attack the Japanese market.

In February of this year, the Biomedical Innovation Execution Center and the Okinawa Prefecture Government jointly organized the first wave of Okinawa Special Economic Zone Seminar and Cooperation Matchmaking Meeting, inviting nearly 30 Okinawa Prefecture and Okinawa-based Japanese companies to come to Taiwan for matchmaking negotiations, hoping to promote Japanese manufacturers come to Taiwan to invest, set up factories or have business exchanges. The industrial fields span health and beauty, medical and biotechnology, logistics, finance, food manufacturing, optoelectronic semiconductors, and IT information services.

From February 26 to 27, the Biomedical Innovation Execution Center also led 12 Taiwanese manufacturers to Okinawa, Japan for exchanges, to understand the current development of the local biotechnology and medical industry, and visited several important local biotechnology research and development institutions in Okinawa, including : The Okinawa Health Biotechnology R&D Center, Okinawa Life Science Research Center, Okinawa Biotechnology Industry Promotion Center, etc., expect bilateral interactions through cooperation and development, mutual investment, product trials, mass production, and business exchanges.

In the future, based on the two-way exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Okinawa, Taiwanese companies can link to the Japanese market, communicate with Japanese industry, academia, and research, expand and form strategic alliances, and also leverage on Japan's brand benefits in Southeast Asian countries to expand emerging markets.

Toshio Sugano, Chief Investment Officer of the Biomedical Innovation Implementation Center, believes that the purpose of this event is to promote industrial exchanges between Taiwan and Japan, and to strengthen the actual industry-government-university-research cooperation mechanism based on the respective industrial advantages of both parties. It is hoped that Taiwan's biotechnology industry, under the promotion of the Biotechnology Innovation Executive Center, will stimulate more opportunities for cooperation with the Japanese industry, government, academia, and research, so as to enhance the quality and international competitiveness of Taiwan's biomedical innovative products as a whole.

Today, in addition to Ji Yong Ryota, Director of the Taipei Office of the Okinawa Industrial Promotion Commune, it also includes Baosheng International, Qiancai Biomedical, Taiwan Biomedical Materials, Shunlixi, Artis Biomedical, Geng Shun, Qiyi Medical Electronics, Zhiyi Quasi-Biomedicine, Jisheng Biomedical, Weizhi Biomedicine, WeMED Biotech and Quanwei Biotechnology and other manufacturers shared their experience and opinions exchange meeting.