MIMETAS wins Deshima award for Dutch-Japanese business relations

June 07, 2021

Leiden & Tokyo, June 7, 2021 - MIMETAS has been awarded the ‘Deshima Business Award” in the category ‘newly established’ by the NCCJ, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The award highlights companies with Dutch roots that lead the way in Japan – those companies that have demonstrated successful business development in Japan and have added value to society.

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Ms. Sigrid Kaag announced and congratulated MIMETAS as the winner of the prestigious award. On behalf of the Jury of the Deshima Business Awards Edith Bosch, former Dutch Judoka, added: ‘'MIMETAS is a start-up biotech company founded in 2013 which has become a global leader in organ-on-a-chip based disease and drug research. It has developed its ground-breaking organ-on-a-chip technology into a commercial product, for instance, to support drug research and to create human tissue models to advance drug efficiency. MIMETAS has been active in Japan since 2015 and has established a successful office in Tokyo demonstrating an inspiring and entrepreneurial spirit.''

“Japan is by no means an easy market to penetrate” adds Paul Zwetsloot, Minister Counsellor Economic Affairs of the Dutch Embassy in Japan. “We are impressed with the agility with which MIMETAS has accessed this market. MIMETAS established long-standing partnerships with leading Japanese pharmaceutical companies. From a societal perspective, the company enables to develop novel therapies, while at the same time pushing the ambition of reducing animal testing in drug development.”

“We are tremendously honored to receive this award”, says MIMETAS CEO Paul Vulto. “We started our journey in Japan in 2015 when MIMETAS was only a small start-up company. In 2018 we opened our office in Tokyo under the passionate leadership of Ms. Yoko Ejiri. This helped us to interact even more closely with our customers. Over the years we have established strong relationships with Japan’s leading pharmaceutical companies and partnered to develop the drugs for today’s unmet medical needs.”

Tokyo Olympics 2021
The Deshima award ceremony took place on Monday, June 7, in the presence of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Ms. Sigrid Kaag, and the general director of the National Olympic Committee Mr. Gerard Dielessen. The ceremony was part of the official TeamNL Tokyo Expo, an initiative in the context of this year’s Olympics and Paralympics games.

Rangaku now
An important keyword for TeamNL Tokyo Expo is ‘Rangaku’. Rangaku pays homage to the special relationship between Japan and the Netherland during the Edo period when the Netherlands inspired Japan to become a leading innovative country through introducing western science, medicine, and technology. With the theme of Rangaku Now the continuity of innovative collaboration between Japan and the Netherlands is celebrated.