C&EN talks with Tomohiro Fujita, biotech entrepreneur

Abstract

Tomohiro Fujita is the proverbial person with a finger in every pie. Active in business, research, and academia, he is described by a peer as “the hub of development for Japan’s biotech industry.” Under the umbrella of his company, Chitose Group, the Japanese entrepreneur and scientist is involved in everything from producing edible algae to manufacturing biopharmaceuticals. Fujita argues that Japan can be a strong player in biotech if the country focuses on its core capabilities. Those strengths have given rise to a handful of food and biopharmaceutical giants—like Ajinomoto, the inventor of monosodium glutamate, and Kyowa Kirin, an antibiotics pioneer—that have roots in traditional Japanese food practices such as the fermentation of soybeans to make miso. But overall, Japan has failed to harness the power of such firms to foster a vibrant biotech sector.One reason is insufficient capital . Nowadays, Fujita says, projects require investments of at least $100