From Scientific Frontiers to Societal Impact: Transforming Humanity’s Greatest Knowledge into Reality
- Date
- 2026.10.06
- Time
- 13:05 - 13:50
- Location
- Knowledge Capital Congrès Convention Center
Guided by its mission to contribute to the future of society through the integration of Convergence Knowledge and Practical Competence, The University of Osaka continues to take on the defining challenges of our time. President Shojiro Kumanogoh will share the University’s vision for the future and its ambition to transform knowledge and discovery into meaningful societal impact.
Joining him, Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, recipient of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, will offer a unique perspective that bridges the worlds of scientific discovery and entrepreneurship. As both a distinguished scientist and researcher and a founder of RegCell, Professor Sakaguchi brings firsthand experience in translating frontier science into real-world innovation and commercial application.
Drawing on these perspectives, this keynote session will explore how groundbreaking scientific discoveries can move beyond the laboratory to create tangible value for society. It will illuminate the challenges and opportunities involved in translating science and technology into real-world impact—and how researchers, universities, and entrepreneurs can work together to push the boundaries of knowledge, address society’s most pressing challenges, and help shape the future of humanity.
Shimon Sakaguchi
Distinguished Honorary Professor of the University of Osaka
Specially Appointed Professor, Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC), the University of Osaka
- Biography
Sakaguchi is currently a Distinguished Honorary Professor of the University of Osaka and a Specially Appointed Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center (IFReC) the University of Osaka, Japan. He obtained an M.D. in 1976 and a Ph.D. in 1982 from Kyoto University, Japan, where he was trained as a pathologist and immunologist. After performing postdoctoral studies at Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University as a Lucille P. Markey Scholar, he served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Immunology at the Scripps Research Institute. He returned to Japan in 1991 and continued his immunology research as the Head of the Department of Immunopathology at Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Tokyo. From 1998 to 2011, he was a Professor of Institute for Frontier Medical Sciences Kyoto University and served as the Director of the Institute from 2007 to 2011. In 2011, his lab moved to the University of Osaka. He was elected to Foreign Member of National Academy of Sciences USA in 2012, and has been awarded many international prizes including Cancer Research Institute’s William B. Coley Award in 2004, Keio Medical Science Prize in 2008, Canada Gairdner International Award in 2015, the Crafoord Prize in 2017, the German Immunology Award in 2019, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize in 2020, the Robert Koch Prize in 2020, and Debrecen Award for Molecular Medicine in 2023, and the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2025. He received an honorary degree from the University of Birmingham, UK, in 2019, the Medal with Purple Ribbon from the Government of Japan in 2009, and the Order of Culture, the highest accolade for Japanese scholars of humanities and natural sciences, from the Emperor of Japan in 2019.