A Place for Co-Creation and Innovation Promotion

Keihanna Science City aims to create a "world-class research and development-oriented open innovation hub" that will contribute to the realization of next-generation smart cities. Emphasis is placed on co-creation with global players of both inside and outside the city, and efforts are being made to promote the commercialization of research and development while utilizing the demonstration environment through industry-academia-government-residential collaboration.

Keihanna R&D Innovation Consortium

To create new businesses and new industries, the RDMM (Research & Development for Monodzukuri through Marketing) Support Center promotes industry-government-academia and cross-industry collaboration projects based on the suppositions of future society and markets with open innovation as the key, and promotes the utilization of research and development results. To date, a total of 70 companies have participated in the four working groups (agriculture and food, health, mobility and energy, and new theme creation), creating new businesses and services.
Responsible for operations, the RDMM Support Center is promoting the following projects as a central organization for one-stop support of industry-academia-government collaboration from the initial stage of corporate research and development to commercialization.

K-PeP(Keihanna Public Road Driving Demonstration Test Platform)

This is Japan's first corporate passenger and resident participation type public road driving demonstration test platform for new technologies such as autonomous driving and the establishment of next-generation intelligent transport systems.
We are contributing to the creation of new technologies and industries through the following core activities.
● Provision of facility equipment such as KICK.
● Provision of Keihanna public road driving demonstration test facilities.
● Application on behalf of government and police agencies.
● Acceleration of demonstration tests using "Club Keihanna".

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Club Keihanna

This is a resident-participation organization established in November 2016 aiming to reflect residents' opinions and ideas in the development of new services and products, urban development, etc., and currently has about 3,000 members from all over Japan. Based on requests from companies, universities, and other organizations in industry, government, and academia, we analyze the market through questionnaires and surveys of residents, consider ideas through resident-participation workshops, and promote demonstration experiments in collaboration with residents, contributing to the creation of new businesses and industries, urban development, and other activities.

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AIJ Platform(ASEAN, IORA and JAPAN Innovation Collaboration Platform)

We collaborate with science cities, research institutes, universities, and companies in ASEAN and IORA (Indian-Ocean Rim Association) countries to provide mechanisms for innovation and the creation of new businesses and industries (international human resource exchange programs, reciprocal use of research institutes, prototyping, and marketing facilities in each country).
Additionally, in cooperation with JETRO and other partner organizations, we provide support for local collaboration projects of companies seeking to develop joint technologies and products with ASEAN and IORA countries.

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Research Promotion Council of Keihanna Info-Communication Open Laboratory

The purpose of this council is to promote research and development through industry-academia-government collaboration in fields related to the NICT Keihanna Info-Communication Open Laboratory, to draw out the ICT potential of the Kansai region, and to promote the development of new technologies, human resources, and the creation of new industries. To promote and support research and development in the fields related to the Open Laboratory, the council plans research and development projects, supports the formation of consortiums, promotes the use of facilities, disseminates research and development results, and exchanges information with related organizations.

Keihanna Startup Ecosystem

In July 2020, the "Osaka-Kyoto-Hyogo/Kobe Consortium" including Keihanna was selected as a startup ecosystem global hub city related to the Japanese government's "World-Class Startup Ecosystem Base Formation Strategy".
Keihanna Science City have formed the "Keihanna Startup Ecosystem" with the aim of discovering and nurturing Keihanna startups and producing excellent companies (unicorns).
By collaborating with universities, companies, local governments, local financial institutions, support organizations, etc., and by increasing cooperation with ecosystem bases in each city, we will foster entrepreneurship, foster entrepreneurs, and promote commercialization. We aim to provide consistent support.
The fusion of science/technology and art/culture, which is the strength of Keihanna Science City, will lead to the creation of innovation. Competitiveness will be achieved through collaboration between startups and research institutes, universities and companies with advanced technology located in Keihanna Science City. More than 150 facilities are located in Keihanna Science City. We aim to develop a startup ecosystem where powerful startups are created one after another.

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Keihanna Research Complex Promotion Council

In the Keihanna Research Complex (RC), facilities located in the Keihanna Science City cooperate, deepen cooperation with institutions outside the region, and integrally promote interdisciplinary research and development, human resource development, commercialization support, etc., and promote innovation.
This activity was started with the "Keihanna Research Complex Project", which was commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology / Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and implemented for 3 years and 6 months from October 2016. In June 2020, we established the "Keihanna Research Complex Promotion Council" and have been working to further develop the global innovation ecosystem unique to Keihanna Science City.

Global innovation collaboration network

By building collaborative relationships with innovation promotion organizations around the world, players contributing to the creation of innovation such as promising startups around the world, the scientific and technological capabilities of Keihanna's world-class academic research institutes and companies, and a demonstration experiment city with citizen participation were connected to global startups. We are building a "Keihanna Global Innovation Ecosystem" by utilizing KGAP+ and KOSAINN/KOSAINN+.
In 2022, we will conclude memorandums of cooperation with the government of Bavaria in Germany, the government of Catalonia in
Spain, Startup Terrace Kaohsiung in Taiwan, and an innovation support organization of the Royal College of Arts in the UK, to expand and enhance our global collaboration network.

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KGAP+
(Keihanna Global Acceleration Program Plus)

In the global startup support program that has been implemented since 2019, startups selected from domestic and overseas partner organizations participate, and for three months, ATR and Keihanna Research Complex Promotion Council together with mentors through pitch events, mentoring, and demonstration experiments, support
collaboration with Japanese companies through the use of experimental city functions.
117 companies in 16 fields from 13 countries/regions participated from the 1st term in the summer of 2019 to the 8th term in the winter of 2022.
Of the 96 companies participating in the 1st to 7th rounds, 71 companies were able to find Japanese companies that were willing to collaborate.
In fiscal 2022, we held the "KGAP+ SUMMIT 2022" at the Kyoto Smart City Expo 2022, which consisted of a panel discussion with global partners, pitches from graduated startups, and exhibitions, and showed our strong global network and achievements in supporting startups.

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KOSAINN/KOSAINN+
(Keihanna Open Global Service Platform for Accelerated Co-Innovation)

It is a platform that implements global open innovation in demonstration projects for problem solving and business development by Japanese companies and regional revitalization by local governments. ATR utilizes its wide network in Japan and overseas to support team building involving startups that can improve the pioneering and mobility of projects and researchers with specialized knowledge. From 2021, we developed KOSAINN , started "KOSAINN+", which accelerated the creation of projects by supporting startups participating in demonstration projects by Canadian governmental innovation promotion organizations, and contributed to the tea industry in Wazuka-cho, Kyoto Prefecture, as well as problem solving and business development for Japanese companies.