Shionogi & Co., Ltd
Contact: Satoshi Sakai
Country: Japan
Award Category: Community Uplift
Tell how you've used SAS to have a positive impact on your community.
Two events will be presented to revitalize the SAS and data science communities.
1. Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting
In order to exchange and enhance the knowledge and technical skills of data scientists, including SAS users in Japan, and to strengthen community building and networking, Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (SHIONOGI) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) jointly planned and launched the " Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting" in 2015.
It has become a popular event for SAS users, with nearly 200 local participants attending each event. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in way of working, this event has been suspended for the past few years, but the 5th Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting took place on-site on January 20, 2025, with over 120 attendees, including SAS users from across Japan.
We believe that the lively discussions on SAS, the outstanding presentations about new technologies, and the exchange of information greatly contributed to enhancing the technical skills and knowledge of SAS users in Japan.
Moving forward, both SHIONOGI and Takeda will plan and implement projects to liven up the SAS user community, including hosting online events, and will continue to nurture SAS users.
・1st Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting (March 10, 2016 @ Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
・(Special Edition) SAS User Meeting 2016 (July 21, 2016 @ Kobe International Conference Center)
・2nd Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting (November 8, 2016 @ Fujitsu Ltd. Kansai System Laboratory)
・(Special Edition) SAS Forum Japan 2017 (May 23, 2017 @ Grand Hyatt Tokyo)
・3rd Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting (June 26, 2017 @ Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
・4th Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting (March 9, 2018 @ Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
・5th Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting (January 20, 2025 @ Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.)
2. SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES
This event was launched by SHIONOGI in 2023 as a place to "raise awareness in society" of data science in pharmaceutical companies from other industries and to create an environment that stimulates continuous value creation and promotes the improvement of expertise in response to various social issues.
Participants were diverse, including not only healthcare companies but also data scientists in Japan, including SAS users from other industries and academia, as well as business side members who are not involved in data science work. SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES 2024, held on February 29, 2024, attracted approximately 1,200 participants under the theme of Creating new value through the fusion of data science and data engineering.
Viewer satisfaction was also high at approximately 95%, and the event became a place to disseminate and collect useful information, contributing to improving the knowledge and skills of participants. In SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES 2024, Mr. Chikara Teshima (SAS Institute Japan Ltd./Vice President of Asia Pacific & EMEA Emerging President and Representative Director) also took the stage to share SAS's cutting-edge initiatives with many Japanese people who are interested in data science. In particular, he spoke about strategic initiatives with SHIONOGI and the use of AI and data analysis necessary to respond to changes in the global environment and economy and achieve sustainable growth, which was very well received by the audience.
SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES 2025 will be held again this year on March 14th.
・SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES 2023 (March 1, 2023 - online)
https://www.shionogi.com/jp/ja/news/2023/1/20230119.html
・SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES 2024 (February 29, 2024 - online)
https://www.shionogi.com/jp/ja/news/2024/01/20240115.html
What SAS products are you using and how are you using them?
Takeda uses SAS9.4 for both Real-World Data (RWD) and clinical trial data analysis.
SHIONOGI uses SAS Viya for RWD analysis and SAS9.4 for clinical trial analysis.
1. Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of on-site events has decreased around the world, and online or hybrid on-site/online events have become mainstream.
However, this time, we have restarted the event by hosting it on-site, in accordance with our original aim of enhancing the technical skills of data scientists, including SAS users, and strengthening community building and networking.
On the day, we reaffirmed that despite it being an on-site event, it is an event that attracts a lot of attention from SAS users in Japan, with many participants from all over the country making the effort to come to Osaka (also known as “Naniwa”), which is not the capital Tokyo.
The participants were from a very diverse background, including healthcare and academia, all eager to improve their SAS skills and acquire a wide range of skills in areas such as R and generative AI.
This event was divided into three parts: “R Festival”, “SAS Festival”, and “Generative AI Festival”.
The SAS Festival in particular featured a number of very attractive topics, including
1) Knowledge on how to efficiently incorporate SAS into business, such as data handling for digital
biomarkers (dBM), reporting such as Report procedure and Odstable procedure, graph expression
techniques, and the creation of Dataset JSON
2) The development of a semi-automated system for drug evidence and RWD analysis using SAS Viya
3) The development of new services through collaboration between companies with SAS Viya.
Through this event, we were able to raise awareness of SAS users in Japan, showcasing many innovative use cases with SAS beyond existing frameworks, and we received very high satisfaction and favorable feedback from the participants.
Additionally, we were able to reaffirm the importance of revitalizing such communities.
The event organizers, Yoshitake Kitanishi (SHIONOGI) and Yohei Takanami (Takeda), have renewed their commitment to grow the Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting and community, continuing to provide a platform for nurturing talent to disseminate SAS knowledge from Japan to the world.
2. SHIONOGI DATA SCIENCE FES
The Naniwa Data Science Research Meeting has many participants with high proficiency in utilizing SAS in daily operations.
However, this event attracts not only those with advanced SAS skills, but also students who are about to dive into SAS and data science, and business-side participants from sales and strategic planning divisions.
Through this event, we gained the valuable experience of directly feeling that data analysis is not only for data scientists who deal with data on a daily basis, but that many people are highly conscious and eager to learn the skills related to data handling and analysis.
In this way, we learned that online events, which have a low barrier to participation, can sometimes be useful for delivering the latest information on data science to a wide range of target audiences.
As with the two community events introduced this time, we combine and change various approaches, such as on-site or online, collaboration with other companies or SHIONOGI alone, to provide a wide range of touch points with data science to many people.
As a front-runner, SHIONOGI would like to create opportunities to learn about the value of data science and examples of SAS use, and to create opportunities for experts to further improve their skills.
