A specialist distributor, Ikeda advises customers on what they need.
“Our aim is to support the creation of an environment where top Japanese technologies can be brought to market.”
Hideo Takahashi, President, Ikeda Scientific Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1931, Ikeda Scientific is a leading distributor of experimental science equipment in Japan. The company also manufactures its own products, and offers customers comprehensive advice on the technology that best fits their needs.
President Hideo Takahashi explains: “A university professor is given a budget for a research project and will say to us, ‘This is what we have to spend – what equipment should we get?’ What Ikeda provides is a one-stop service.”
A flagship Ikeda project is SAITAS, which focuses on regenerative medicine. “It’s an area in which many companies don’t have the capacity to advertise and sell by themselves,” Mr. Takahashi says. “We act as a distributor for them.
“Our mission is to build momentum in the research community, so we also provide grants to researchers in regenerative medicine and have an extensive network that allows us to directly contact most of the researchers involved in the field.”
SAITAS also has a role to play in Ikeda’s international ambitions. “In Japan, many companies import foreign scientific instruments, but the opposite is less common,” Mr. Takahashi says. “We’d like to take Japanese products overseas.
“As an approach to overseas markets, we introduced the ‘Micro Tube Pump System’ in SAITAS. Developed as part of an Iwate University venture, it’s an inexpensive instrument that can automate cell culture. We believe it’ll have a great impact on overseas researchers.
“We’ll also introduce a laser Raman microscope developed by Nanophoton, an Osaka University company. The microscope can conduct non-contact, non-destructive analysis and evaluation with high precision, and is said to be one of the few successful ventures in analytical instrumentation originating from a university.”
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