On January 11 (Fri), the launch of MIJ labo, a venture company born in Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, was announced at the press conference held at the university’s meeting room.
In collaboration with Meat Image Japan (Obihiro City), our university has been engaged in a research to promote academic activities, agriculture in Tokachi area, and overall agricultural activities in Hokkaido since 2015.
So far, the collaboration has been successful in releasing “Market Research in the Livestock Industry,” “Meat Quality Assessment Technology Based on Latest Image Analyses Techniques,” “Special Carcass Camera,” “Carcass Image Database,” and so on. In order to maximize the practical benefit of these achievements in the livestock industry and to promote the industry by making the analytic results widely available, MIJ labo was founded as a spinoff from Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine on November 29, 2018, and Professor Keigo Kuchida of the Department of Life and Food Sciences was appointed as the Director and Chief Development Officer of the company.
Patents have been granted to “The Meat Marbling Evaluation Method” (Note 1) and “The Meat Color Grading Method” (Note 2), which are the results of analyses made on the compilation of tens of thousands of carcass images Professor Kuchida took in the Tokachi area,. MIJ labo provides photographing and analysis services through the combination of “Meat Quality Assessment Technology Based on Latest Image Analyses Techniques” deriving from these patents and “Special Carcass Camera Designed for Narrow Sections,” which was jointly developed by Professor Kuchida and Meat Image Japan. The company also envisages business expansion, leveraging cloud technologies and AI.
As a university-born venture, MIJ labo will remain committed to the promotion of livestock industry in Tokachi area and the entire Hokkaido region.
Note 1: Joint acquisition by Japan Meat Grading Association and the university
Note 2: Joint acquisition by Tokachi Shimizu Food Service and the university
