• Technological studies on healthy life initiated in Shikoku.
• Health Technology Research Center (HTRC) installed on April 1, 2005.
• The HTRC is expected to play a hub role in the network of health technology studies in the AIST and to grapple with fostering and strengthening health-related industries in the Shikoku Region.

In Japan where declining birthrate and aging population prevail, health issues to ensure sustainable, reassuring and prolific life are attracting broad interest of people. For this reason, the promotion of technological development in the area of health maintenance, as well as the growth of health-related industries, have been emphatically proclaimed at the Council of Science and Technology Policy and in the "New Industry Creation Strategy" of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI).

The health study involves diverse categories of research works and subjects: interaction between the natural environment, familiar living environment and the human being; physiological homeostasis of the human body, psycho-physiological effects derived from various stress in the social life, recovery of persons from physical and physiological malfunctions. The engineering approach also includes a wide spectrum of research areas based on the combination of knowledge and technologies through the interdisciplinary efforts covering life science, human engineering, environmental technology, informatics, materials science, social engineering, and so on.

In the occasion of entering the Second Stage of the AIST Medium Term Target Period, the Health Technology Research Center (HTRC) has been installed at the AIST Shikoku, for pursuing technological development in the area of engineering studies on the maintenance and management of human health in the daily life, taking advantage of research outcomes and research resources accumulated at the AIST Shikoku. More specifically, the goal of R&D efforts is set at capturing physiological conditions of would-be patients in the premorbid state before the onset of disease, establishing advanced prognostic and diagnostic technologies for preventing pathogeny, promoting technological development for enjoying secure life excluding various risk factors for health in the daily life, and returning the outcome to the society. In order to cope with the requirements for interdisciplinary collaboration covering a broad range of research fields, it is attempted to build up a network linking various research units of the AIST being engaged in the R&D works related to health engineering, and to promote the growth of health industries through the collaboration with industrial and academic sectors.

It is worth of special mentioning that the HTRC will take the hub role for fostering the health-related industries around the Shikoku Region through its R&D activities.