Collaboration/cooperation with external institutions Cooperation with Singapore

Since its foundation, AMED has actively participated in international networks and bilateral and other international cooperative frameworks. The following is an overview of AMED's bilateral cooperation with Singapore.

Subsequent to the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) signed with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) on January 11, 2016, AMED concluded an MOC with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR; Chairman: Lim Chuan Poh) on March 16, 2016.

A subordinate organization of the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore, A*STAR functions both as a provider of research funds and a research and development institute, playing a pivotal role in all fields of science and technology in the country. The MOC has also opened up cooperative relationships between AMED and the Biomedical Research Council (BMRC), a research support function within A*STAR, and the National Medical Research Council (NMRC) that supports research under Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH), enabling AMED to pursue extensive cooperation with Singapore in the biomedical field ranging from basic to clinical research.

As with the MOC signed with the U.S. NIH, the MOC aims to promote and support extensive cooperative work between scientists of Japan and Singapore in biomedical and related scientific fields, including collaborative research projects, joint symposia, and personnel exchanges.

On March 15, 2016, immediately preceding the conclusion of the MOC, AMED and A*STAR jointly hosted a workshop themed on aging, a fitting topic for two countries that are confronting an aging population.

At the summit meeting held on September 28, 2016 between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the MOC was referred to as “a memorandum in the field of science and technology," being recognized as a manifestation of the collaborative relationship between the two countries.

In commemoration of the opening of AMED's Singapore Office on June 27, 2016, AMED, with the Embassy of Japan, co-organized a reception on the day at the embassy's Japan Creative Center. The opening of the office was announced and AMED's operations were introduced to an audience of 90 guests including the guest of honor, Mr. Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR.

On October 2, 2016, a letter of intent (LOI) was signed on scientific and technological cooperation in the biomedical field between Mr. Hirokazu Matsuno, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and Mr. Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of A*STAR.

With this backdrop, AMED has been running its first collaborative research project with A*STAR based on their MOC through matching funds provided by Japan and Singapore. Specifically, from October 18 through December 19, 2016, AMED issued a call for proposals for research spanning three years in the field of Biological and Molecular Determinants of Human Ageing under its Strategic International Collaborative Research Program (SICORP), based on the notion of equal partnership.

The research proposals solicited under the program have been reviewed in English by the AMED-A*STAR joint review committee.