Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, Tohoku University.
Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies, The University of Tokyo.
Tohoku J Exp Med. 2020 Apr;250(4):253-262. doi: 10.1620/tjem.250.253.
The Tohoku Medical Megabank Project was designed as part of the national reconstruction project for addressing the damage from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. It is an integrated project involving the genome cohort study of 150,000 participants, integrated biobank construction, and multi-omics analyses. Public relations and communication activities emerged to be extremely important in the successful development of this project. To gain insights into the contributions of these activities, we divided the public relations and communication activities for the project into three phases based on the situations surrounding the project. Prior to the start of the cohort study (Phase I), a cooperative relationship was established with a focus on concluding cooperation agreements with local governments. Until the participants reached the target number (Phase II), we actively communicated with the media to publicize the project. During the phase in which use of the constructed biobank is promoted (Phase III), for ensuring the industrial utilization of the biobank, visits from the industry are promoted. Throughout the execution of these activities, we explored the best strategies for building relationships with multiple stakeholders like local government, media and industry. By paying attention to these phases that have been changing according to the project's progress, we were able to adapt the strategies and methods of public relations and communication. The success of these activities has enabled the overall project to progress smoothly. We hope that the process of designing our project's public relations and communication activities will be useful for other similar initiatives.
东北医科大学海量研究项目是作为应对 2011 年东日本大地震损害的国家重建项目的一部分而设计的。这是一个综合项目，涉及 150000 名参与者的基因组队列研究、综合生物库建设和多组学分析。在这个项目的成功开发中，公共关系和传播活动变得非常重要。为了深入了解这些活动的贡献，我们根据项目的情况将项目的公共关系和传播活动分为三个阶段。在队列研究开始之前（第一阶段），与地方政府建立了合作关系，重点是达成合作协议。直到参与者达到目标数量（第二阶段），我们积极与媒体沟通，宣传项目。在推广构建的生物库的使用阶段（第三阶段），为了确保生物库的产业利用，我们积极促进行业访问。在执行这些活动的过程中，我们探索了与地方政府、媒体和行业等多个利益相关者建立关系的最佳策略。通过关注根据项目进展而不断变化的这些阶段，我们能够调整公共关系和传播的策略和方法。这些活动的成功使整个项目得以顺利进行。我们希望我们项目的公共关系和传播活动的设计过程对其他类似的倡议有用。
