Registration filled to capacity with more than 600 applicants for the Bio-AI Council summit, backed by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, LINK-J and JST
TOKYO, September 17, 2026 - Craif Inc., a bio-AI company developing a urine analysis platform for early detection of cancer and other diseases, hosted Bio-AI Summit 2026 in Tokyo on September 17, serving as secretariat to the Bio-AI Council, the summit's organizer. The one-day program brought together the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, national research funders and companies working at the intersection of biology and machine learning, under the theme of moving life science into its next industrial phase.
Manabu Miyasaka, Vice Governor of Tokyo, was announced as a speaker in the fourth wave of speaker announcements ahead of the event. Applications for the free event exceeded 600, and registration closed once the venue reached capacity.
Craif is a Tokyo-founded company developing non-invasive cancer risk testing from microRNA in urine. Its flagship product, the miSignal urine cancer risk test, is built on the microRNA biology recognized by the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The company's clinical work includes a pancreatic cancer study published in eClinicalMedicine, part of The Lancet Discovery Science family of journals. Craif's US subsidiary, Craif USA Inc., is based in San Diego.
Craif's New CMO Among Featured Speakers
Nick Bevins, Craif's Chief Medical Officer, was on the speaker list. Bevins is based in the United States. His presence on a Tokyo stage alongside the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Illumina, IBM Japan and Japanese biotechnology companies is the clearest signal in the program that Craif is running one company across two markets rather than a Japanese company with a US office attached.
The program
The summit ran from 13:00 to 17:15 JST, with doors opening at 12:30, at Tokyo Innovation Base (TIB) 2F STAGE, 3-8-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, one minute from Yurakucho Station. The event was held in person only. No online stream was offered. Attendance was free and required advance registration.
The sessions were:
- Opening session, "Bio-AI, Built from Japan"
- Session 01, "The Global Bio-AI Wave"
- Session 02, "Bio-AI Frontiers"
- Session 03, "From Research to Real-World Impact"
- Session 04, "Data Infrastructure for the AI Era"
Announced speakers (partial list)
- Manabu Miyasaka, Vice Governor, Tokyo Metropolitan Government
- Ryuichi Onose, CEO, Craif Inc.
- Takashi Kado, Mayor of Misato, Shimane Prefecture
- Kensuke Suzuki, Head of Business Strategy, Illumina KK
- Yuji Suzuki, CEO, bitBiome Inc.
- Munenori Senzaki, Director and Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences, IBM Japan
- Kazuki Kawabe, Executive Officer and CFO, digzyme Inc.
- Nick Bevins, Chief Medical Officer, Craif Inc.
- Toshio Fujimoto, CEO, Ipark Institute Inc.
- Naoki Yokota, General Manager, Taxa Technologies Japan
Organizers and supporters
The Bio-AI Council organized Bio-AI Summit 2026, with Craif Inc. as secretariat. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government, LINK-J (Life Science Innovation Network Japan), and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) supported the event.
Inquiries about the summit go to the summit secretariat at bioai-summit@craif.com.
About Craif
Craif is a bio-AI company founded in 2018 that develops non-invasive tests for the early detection of cancer. Its platform combines proprietary biomarker detection from urine and other bodily fluids with AI to assess disease risk. Building on one of the world's largest urine datasets, Craif aims to create a urine analysis platform that detects a wide range of diseases early, with cancer as the first step. The company is based in Tokyo and operates a wholly owned laboratory in San Diego, opened in 2026. Learn more at craif.com.
Media inquiries
press_us@craif.com
