On 25th November 2025, Project Lecturer LI Zihui (Irene), Department of Technology Management for Innovation, received "Innovators Under 35 Japan 2025".
Innovators Under 35 Japan 2025
Innovators Under 35 is an international award hosted by MIT Technology Review, the media division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. Its goal is to discover original and talented young innovators under the age of 35 who are tackling global challenges and shaping the future for decades to come. Highly regarded internationally, past recipients include Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Facebook co-founder, chairman, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Innovators Under 35 Japan is the Japanese edition and is being held for the sixth time this year. This year, ten winners were strictly selected from over 200 candidates across all eight fields: "Computing/Electronics," "Software," "Transportation (Space Development)," "Internet," "AI/Robotics," "Communication," "Energy/Sustainability," and "Medicine/Bioengineering."
The Japanese winners are nominated as candidates for the following year's global edition of the award.
About Awarded Research
I am deeply focused on developing advanced Large Language Models (LLMs) specifically tailored for the Japanese language in the healthcare domain. While AI is rapidly transforming sectors globally, the development of truly reliable and culturally grounded LLMs for non-English languages like Japanese remains a critical challenge, particularly given Japan's pressing demographic shift towards an aging society and the increasing shortage of medical professionals. My research is designed to move beyond the limitations of current English-optimized AI. I build Japanese-language medical LLMs by integrating crucial techniques such as knowledge grounding and explainable reasoning. This allows the models to not only generate accurate and fluent medical text in Japanese but also provide clear, verifiable justifications for their outputs, which is absolutely essential for building trust among clinicians in real-world clinical decision-making settings. This focus on reliability and cultural appropriateness is key to truly leveraging AI's potential to improve patient outcomes.
A significant application of my current research involves the development of specialized AI methodologies for early screening of age-related cognitive decline through everyday linguistic data. By leveraging sophisticated linguistic and cognitive analytics, I am working on creating a system capable of providing early insights and facilitating personalized, preventative interventions for older adults in the Japanese-speaking community. This approach is intended to help reduce the heavy burden on caregivers and contribute to extending the healthy life expectancy of the population.
Your Impression & Future Plans
Looking forward, my ultimate goal is to ensure that the benefits of reliable, culturally sensitive AI are made accessible and equitable worldwide. Many underserved regions, including parts of Africa and Asia, suffer from acute shortages of qualified doctors and limited medical infrastructure. I plan to expand my work to cover the significant technical and linguistic challenges of developing robust LLMs for low-resource languages. By creating deployable AI tools that can function as accessible diagnostic and information support systems, we can empower local healthcare workers and effectively help to bridge the critical gap in clinical expertise in regions facing the most severe resource scarcity. This award inspires me to pursue this expansive vision and strive for a world where AI contributes to better health outcomes for everyone, everywhere.
Innovators Under 35 Japan 2025: https://techreviewjp.com/iu35/2025/winners
Li Zihui: https://www.technologyreview.jp/l/innovators_jp/371999/zihui-li/
Liluxin, Chai (D2), Department of Systems Innovation, received the Best Presentation Award at the International Conference on Industrial Logistics (ICIL 2025)
