International Journal of Research Studies in Computing 2015 April, Volume 4 Number 1, 15-23 A review of medical grids and their direction - A Swiss/Japanese perspective Nakai, Toshiharu NeuroImaging and Informatics, National Center for Geriatrics & Gerontology, Ohbu, Japan (
[email protected] ) ISSN: 2243-772X Müller, Henning Online ISSN: 2243-7797 Business Information Systems, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Sierre, Switzerland (
[email protected] ) OPEN ACCESS Bagarinao, Epifanio Brain and Mind Research Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan (
[email protected] ) Tomida, Koji Nagoya Institute of Technology, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya, Japan (
[email protected] ) Shiraishi, Yoshiaki Kobe University, Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe, Japan (
[email protected] ) Niinimaki, Marko CERN, Helsinki Institute of Physics, Geneva, Switzerland (
[email protected] ) Received : 15 February 2015 Revised : 7 March 2015 Accepted : 4 May 2015 Available Online : 15 June 2015 DOI: 10.5861/ijrsc.2015.1109 Abstract This paper presents a general and comparative review of the advances of grid technologies in medical sciences since 2000, with a special emphasis on Europe and Japan. The EU has over the years funded several big projects in the Grid and now the cloud area, covering besides the high energy physics domain also bioinformatics and medical applications as in image analysis. Bioinformatics and pharmaceutical design have been the major targets of grid applications in Japan. Grids and clouds share many of the same goals and techniques, although clouds are more commercially oriented and privately provided services and grids are rather publicly initiated resource sharing platforms between institutions without strong economic objectives.