Keio University Launches 11th Healthcare Venture Contest with Focus on Mibyou (Pre-Symptomatic) Measures and Entrepreneurial Strategy
核心洞察
Keio University School of Medicine is hosting the 11th Keio Healthcare Venture Contest, seeking new business ideas in the medical and healthcare fields from students, researchers, and entrepreneurs.
This year's student category features a dedicated "Mibyou (Pre-symptomatic) Measures" track, focusing on understanding health status at the pre-disease stage to drive lifestyle improvements and behavioral changes.
A lecture by physician-turned-VC Anna Nakayasu will address entrepreneurial strategies for converting clinical pain points into sustainable healthcare businesses, including monetization barriers and AI-era entry barriers.
Keio University School of Medicine has announced the launch of the 11th Keio Healthcare Venture Contest, a business competition aimed at discovering and supporting new business ideas and business plans in the medical and healthcare fields. The contest invites participation from students, researchers, medical professionals, and entrepreneurs, with a particular emphasis on converting clinical challenges into sustainable, socially implemented businesses.
This year's student category introduces a dedicated idea and pitch recruitment track themed around "Mibyou Measures" — a concept rooted in preventive medicine that focuses on understanding health status at the pre-symptomatic, pre-disease stage to facilitate lifestyle improvements and behavioral changes before illness manifests.
Entrepreneurial Strategy Lecture: From Clinical Pain Points to Business
As part of the contest programming, Anna Nakayasu — a physician who transitioned to venture capital after completing an MBA at Stanford University — will deliver a lecture titled "Entrepreneurial Strategies for Connecting Field Challenges to Business." Nakayasu, who currently serves at Globis Capital Partners (搜索) and as Representative Director of the Japan Healthcare Innovation Hub, brings experience from healthcare investment roles at Sozo Ventures (搜索) in Silicon Valley and as lead partner for Portfolia's Active Aging & Longevity Fund.
Her lecture will address how to sublimate "passion" and "awareness of issues" into sustainable business rather than letting them remain as mere ideals. Key topics include the monetization barriers unique to healthcare, how to select funding approaches according to the scale of the problem being addressed, and how to build entry barriers that will withstand displacement in the AI era.
Mibyou Measures: Preventive Medicine as a Business Opportunity
A separate lecture event will feature two speakers addressing the Mibyou Measures theme. Masaya Sawafuji, Deputy Administrative Director of the Keio University Center for Preventive Medicine, will discuss the needs and challenges in the field of pre-symptomatic measures. Tao Cheng, Representative Director and CEO of issin Inc. (搜索), will present perspectives on social implementation of Mibyou measures as a business, drawing on the company's development of products and services that naturally track health status in daily life and lead to lifestyle improvements and behavioral changes.
The contest organizers emphasize that delivering Mibyou measures to society requires careful consideration of field needs, user engagement for sustained adoption, and the business perspectives necessary for successful implementation within the unique structures and constraints of the healthcare sector.
Participation and Target Audience
The contest is open to students interested in business creation in the medical and healthcare fields, as well as motivated working professionals. Participants can join from the idea stage, and the program includes seminars by experts, mentoring, and judging to support the realization and social implementation of business ideas. The lecture content is designed to be relevant for those considering application to the contest as well as individuals with broader interests in healthcare business, medical startups, venture capital investment, and social implementation.