Address from Consul General Takaoka: 3rd Annual Neuroscience Symposium at Edinburgh University

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman，
 

Thank you very much for inviting me to the third meeting of the UK-Japan Neuroscience Symposium. I am very fortunate to share this precious opportunity to exchange the latest findings and achievements in this field, which attracts world attention in the context of an ongoing aging society. 
 

I also pay my personal attention to this symposium because medical and life sciences are one of the key areas where Japan-Scotland cooperation should thrive into the future. Living in Scotland, and in front of the Japanese and English audiences, it would be probably wise for me not to tell you my impression about the whole saga of the B-word except that it is a very complicated subject.
 

And I can say one more thing. The crux of the UK Global strategy should be to extend its reach beyond the European continent to find effective and useful international partners. Since this strategy obviously entails a longer distance to cover, one should concentrate more on those agendas with high added value to justify the time and energy to overcome that distance. When I see so many high-level participants here joining in this room despite the weather, I am certain that medical and life sciences are exactly those areas.
 

The UK and Japan have a close relationship in collaborating over the issue of dementia at several levels, including drug development and developing comfortable living spaces, with the participation of a number of British and Japanese universities.
 

One Scottish university that I personally visited is the University of Stirling and its Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC).  The centre signed a collaboration agreement with the Tokyo Metropolitan Geriatric Hospital and Institute of Gerontology in 2017 and the two institutions are now working together to study the development of dementia and age-friendly communities involving private companies.
 

I understand that collaboration on similar subjects are ongoing between Edinburgh University, Heriot Watt University, Robert Gordon University, the Tokyo Centre for Dementia Care and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
 

In the area of drug development, last year Takeda developed a relationship with the University of Dundee to help to develop drugs to counter several forms of neurodegeneration including Alzheimer’s Disease.
 

Let me conclude my remarks by expressing my hope that this two-day symposium should produce not just useful academic achievement, which will be probably done I believe, but also encourage further cooperative research and business projects thus setting a role model for the UK Global strategy after Brexit.
 

Thank you very much for your attention.