The industry-academia partnership will start out with collaborations in the healthcare, robotics and human resources spaces, including a sports science tie-up with a Rakuten-owned baseball team and plans for software development hackathons.
The Japan-based Tohoku University has formed a collaboration pact with e-commerce firm Rakuten that will initially target innovations in healthcare, robotics and human resources, Telecompaper reported yesterday.
The agreement will result in the creation of a research hub called Rakuten Innovation Laboratory Tohoku to coordinate efforts between its partners. Its remit for research could be broadened out into additional sectors after a year.
Tohoku will work alongside Rakuten’s life science business promotion department and its corporate venturing unit, Rakuten Capital, in healthcare.
Other health projects will include sports science research conducted by the university and Rakuten-owned baseball team Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, as well as collaborations between Rakuten’s insurance subsidiaries and the Tohoku University School of Medicine.
The partnership’s robotics research will also include logistics-orientated projects, while its human resources initiative will forge links between the university and Rakuten’s People and Culture Lab through training-orientated exercises…
