North East Regional University Consortium (NERUC) has been organized to build a local system for promoting intellectual property creation and utilization in Hokkaido (Obihiro) and Tohoku (Hirosaki, Iwate and Yamagata) through strengthened cooperation between national and private universities in the region, and thereby improve regional cooperation between industry, university and government.
The Consortium, which is headed by a board member (in charge of administration and local community liaison) or a vice president of Iwate University, consists of two units, namely North East Life Science Unit (NLU for short), a unit charged with promoting transfer of life science technology through Iwate University’s United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, and Iwate Regional University Unit (IRU for short), a unit charged with improving collaboration between all five universities in Iwate and increasing cooperation between industry, university and government in the prefecture. The two units are expected to be integrated in the years to come.
- Build a readily accessible human and physical communication network.
- Make full use of intellectual property, considering the characteristics of each region.
- Employ experts and train internal human resources so that the members may use such personnel.
- Build a system for facilitating cooperation with business enterprises, local governments, financial institutions and other entities in the region and embark on joint ventures with such entities.
- Host seminars and suchlike to make the most of each member’s merits.
