Consortium

According to survey data from the Kawasaki Nursing Association, the needs in the field are substantial and diverse, but there are also many needs that could be immediately commercialized by companies. In home healthcare, it is not feasible for doctors or nurses to attend to patients 24 hours a day, as they do in acute care hospitals, and there is a need for tools and systems that enable a familiar person (or the patient themselves, if living alone) to perform actions equivalent to those of a nurse and to foster 'the ability to care.' There is high demand for care products, such as pulse oximeters, that can be easily used by anyone, not just doctors or nurses, and 70% of companies have expressed interest in entering the healthcare market. However, the preconceived notion that the healthcare industry is a 'regulated industry' makes it difficult to identify market needs, and the lack of know-how to establish a venue for conducting empirical research on prototypes has led to more than 60% of companies hesitating to enter this market. To overcome this situation and lower the barriers for new entrants, the Kawasaki Care Design Consortium was established on November 1st, 2024, in Kawasaki City. Kawasaki is the only city in Japan with a city-based nursing association and a unique certification system (KIS: Kawasaki Innovation Standards) that supports nursing care and welfare products. We will build a system to deliver products needed by care facilities by matching their needs with the innovations from companies.