世界上第一款可以承受消毒处理的柔性有机晶体管；只要摄下面部画像便可测定脉搏的移动应用；不光能照出人体骨架、还能照出人体内癌变组织的X光机。——这些仅仅是日本目前正在开发的技术中的一小部分。眼下，这个国家已经围绕着国人傲视全球的长寿记录发展出了一个行业。那我们为什么没有在医疗器械或其他医疗相关产品上看到更多的“日本制造”字样呢？

    据某些权威人士表示，原因就出在所谓的“死亡谷综合症”（Death Valley Syndrome）上。或者说，日本的创新，在研发阶段还活力四射、前景可期，却很少能够跨过科研与商业化之间的那道坎儿。就如一位不愿透露姓名的官方人员所形容的，日本“精于技术，但不懂经营”。“日本高水平的基础研究和卓越的技术被过于严苛的管制、纵向一体化的管理捆住了手脚。科研人员和制造商之间的代沟在很多时候都阻碍了杰出的研发成果投入到实践的进程，也就是所谓的‘死亡谷’难题。”

    日本研制的药物融入了若干最高水平的创新成果、专业精神以及随处可见的关怀心，外界目前普遍认为它尚未得到充分开发。结果导致日本在药物及医疗器械领域出现了贸易逆差。日本去年的药物进口总值比出口总值高出了1万亿日元。这正是安倍晋三带领的新任政府班子希望立刻解决的问题。

    今年2月，东京政府宣布计划设立“健康医疗战略室”，职责是将日本某些十分优秀、但日渐式微的科研成果带入市场。这个研究室的宗旨是树立日本在医疗技术及保健服务领域的世界领先地位。这位新任的日本首相对于这个板块的潜在实力充满了信心，将这一政策纳为他所说的“安倍经济学”（Abenomics）政策计划“三支箭”中的一支，意图重振日本疲软的经济。刚刚在上月设立了健康医疗战略室的日本内阁官房长官菅义伟称，安倍政府计划“将医疗板块、药品、医疗设备及器械产业打造成日本的战略性产业，日后成为日本经济复兴的重要支柱。”

    此外，放开了管制的地区，譬如延伸至东京周边多个城市的大片海岸，已被指定为开发特区，专门用来帮助科研创新成果走出实验室，把它们交到私营企业的手中。特区内的实验室和企业机构可以享受税务减免和政府基金支持。官方人士表示，日本其他地区在医疗测试方面施行的严格管制条款在这里也会变得更加宽松。

    截至目前，放开管制的地区已经令一种先进的外科手术模拟器的开发成为了可能。这种模拟器能让缺乏经验的医生接受虚拟环境下的模拟手术训练，而不用拿人体来做“小白鼠”。其他一些企业则联合开发了一组小型的家用超声波套件。目前，研发项目所在地横滨已经不再列入禁止家用超声波设备的管制地区名单，因此超声波在家庭中的临床应用开始变得可能。

    医疗政策室的一位干事中垣英明表示，日本的医疗技术也会大力进行海外宣传。“健康长寿领域存在着一个巨大的市场。我们之前关注的一直是国内市场，但是如今我们也要开始把重心放在海外市场上。”他还补充说，他所在的委员会应该会在今年夏季时拿出具体的相关政策方案。

    The world's first sterilizable, flexible organic transistor; mobile apps that can measure your pulse just by imaging your face; X-ray machines that capture not just bone but cancer tissue, too. These are just a few of the technologies being developed in Japan now, where an industry has grown around the world-beating longevity of the country's people. So why don't we see "Made in Japan" stamped more often on medical instruments or other products in the medical field?

    The answer, according to some pundits, is the so-called Death Valley Syndrome. In other words, Japanese innovation, full of vitality and promise at the R&D level, rarely makes it across the perilous divide between research and commercialization. Japan is "good at technology but poor in business" as one official who declined to be named puts it. "Its high levels of basic research and superior technology are hampered by too-strict regulations, vertically integrated administration. And the gap between researchers and manufacturers is, in many cases, preventing brilliant R&D results from being put into practical use -- the 'Death Valley' problem."

    Practicing some of the highest levels of innovation, professionalism, and care seen anywhere, Japanese medicine so far has been famously under-exploited. As a result, Japan's imports of medicines and medical equipment trounces exports. The country's medicine imports exceeded exports by about 1 trillion yen last year. That is something the newly elected government, led by Shinzo Abe, means to fix immediately.

    In February, Tokyo announced that it would establish an Office for Health Care and Medical Strategy charged with getting some of Japan's exceptional but languishing R&D efforts to market. The office aims to establish Japan as the most advanced in medical technologies and health care services in the world. The P.M., so sure of the potential strength of the sector, has made it one of the "three arrows" of his so-called Abenomics policy plan to revive Japan's flagging economy. The government aims to "develop the medical sector, pharmaceutical products, and medical devices and equipment as strategic industries that will form a key pillar for Japan's economic revitalization," says chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga who launched the health care office last month.

    In addition, deregulated areas, such as a large stretch of coast that straddles Tokyo's neighboring cities, have been designated special zones dedicated to getting innovation out of the labs and into the hands of private companies. Tax breaks and government funds are available to labs and firms in the region. Strict regulations that apply elsewhere in Japan on medical trials are looser here, say officials

    So far the deregulated zone has made it possible to develop an advanced surgery simulator that allows inexperienced doctors to perform simulated surgery training, virtually, without the need for human guinea pigs. Other companies have jointly developed an ultrasound kit miniaturized for home use. Clinical trails at home were made possible because the site, Yokohama, now falls outside Japan's regulated zone that would ban home use.

    Japanese medical technology is also to be aggressively marketed abroad, says Hideaki Nakagaki, a director general of the Office of Health Care Policy. "There is a huge market here for health, longevity. We were looking at the domestic market, but now we will be focusing on overseas sales, too." His committee should have concrete policies on this subject by summer, he adds.

    日本有22%以上的人口年龄在65岁或以上，其他发达国家也有很多步其后尘。在这种情况下，企业界发现，在每年总值超过1亿美元的保健技术市场中，远程监控类产品要比消费电子产品的胜算更大。关注这个日益壮大的市场的同时，丸红株式会社（Marubeni）等大型商社开始进军穿戴式健康监控仪这类设备的市场领域。就连汽车部件制造商都开始看中医疗领域的市场潜力，认为它前景可期，有望接替日本在全球市场规模大幅缩水的汽车部件产品的地位。

    总部位于名古屋的朝日INTECC株式会社（Asahi Intecc）已经从一家汽车线缆制造商转型成为当代外科领域先进技术供应导管导线的全球领军企业。这类不锈钢线缆和导管的生产至今已经填补了这家公司原有汽车部件业务90%的业绩，它的医疗设备目前已经行销于85个国家。社长宫田昌彦在一次采访中告诉医疗科技资讯网站Medtechinsider.com： “人们问我，为什么朝日会选择循环器官、脑神经（应用）这类挑战度最高的领域，可是不冒一定风险的话就没法造出革新性的设备。”

    这种迎着风险而上的意识在日本十分难得。尽管朝日的故事并没有什么过人之处，但有迹象显示，想要更有成效地发掘、利用日本本土的创新人才，光有政府的政策还不够。日本一位顶尖科学家早前曾经以政府名义进行过若干尝试，但最近却以灾难性的结果告终，而他本人也黯然辞职。由于一没预算，二没权限，中村佑辅教授还没做满一年就辞去了职位。他指责相关政府部门各自为政，一盘散沙。“日本没有人从整体上考虑过国家的医疗服务，”中村有一次接受《读卖新闻》采访时说。如今，他在美国芝加哥大学（the University of Chicago）担任教授一职。“日本正在迅速地落后于其他国家。”（财富中文网）

    译者：薄锦

    With over 22% of Japan's population already aged 65 or older, and much of the developed world following suit, businesses are finding remote monitoring gadgets, among others, are a better bet than consumer electronics in a care technology market worth well over a billion dollars annually. With an eye on this growing market, large trading firms such as Marubeni are stepping in to market devices such as wearable health monitors. Even car parts manufacturers are choosing the medical field as a promising alternative to Japan's incredibly shrinking market for its vehicle part products.

    Nagoya-based Asahi Intecc has transformed itself from manufacturing wiring for cars into a global leader in catheters and guide wires used in today's advanced surgery techniques. Such stainless steel wires and catheters now make up 90% of the former auto parts business, with the firm currently distributing its medical devices to 85 countries. "People ask me why Asahi chose the most challenging areas such as circulatory organ and cranial nerve [applications], but innovative devices cannot be created without taking risks," company President Masahiko Miyata told Medtechinsider.com in an interview.

    Such risk-taking in Japan is rare. And while the Asahi story is not exceptional, there are indications it will take more than government polices to productively tap Japan's innovation genius. Previous attempts led by one of the country's leading scientists on behalf of the state ended in disaster recently with his resignation. Given no budget or authority, Prof. Yusuke Nakamura resigned from his post after less than a year. He blamed the intractability of various turf-defending ministries. "Nobody in Japan is thinking about the nation's medical services comprehensively," says Nakamura, who is currently a professor at the University of Chicago, in an interview with the Yomiuri newspaper. "Japan is quickly falling behind other countries."