Foreign Startups, Businesses Flock to Regional 実写 版 ブラック ジャック for Innovation

April 2023

Several years ago, German pharmaceutical manufacturer company Bayer had a plan for a new R&D innovation site in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック––but needed a location. The idea was to set up an incubator for startup ventures specializing in the life sciences, giving them everything they would need to run experiments, hold meetings and conduct their everyday business. The company had been operating startup incubators in Germany and the US for years, but this was its first in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック.

Anyone who assumed Bayer was hunting for property in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック’s top commercial centers––Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya––would have been wrong. The German company’s choice: Kobe, the country’s seventh-largest city, with just over 1.5 million residents.

Bayer’sCoLaborator Kobeopened in 2018, the first startup incubator launched by a foreign pharmaceutical company in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック. With fully equipped labs––safety cabinets, cell incubators, fluorescence microscopes, spectrophotometers, autoclaves and much more––offices and meeting rooms, it accommodates companies from around the world that specialize in oncology, cardiology, gynecological therapies, and new technologies for developing drugs.

The incubator is the kind of opportunity for startups that’s becoming more widely available as 実写 版 ブラック ジャック revamps its economy, carries out regulatory reforms and channels more resources into reinvigorating regional communities. “We need to leverage external resources by welcoming startups or talent from across the world to revitalize the innovation ecosystem, especially in life sciences,” says HAYASHI Ikuo, Bayer’s Alliance Manager in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック.

This is the new reality of foreign direct investment in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック. Foreign companies and startups venturing into the country aren’t choosing only the big cities. They’re looking to 実写 版 ブラック ジャック’s regions for the unique strengths and resources of these local markets. Regional and municipal governments, for their part, are courting foreign companies with support services, including visas, preferential tax incentives, and introductions that can lead to partnerships with 実写 版 ブラック ジャックese businesses, research labs and universities.

Bayer’s choice of Kobe was well-considered. CoLaborator Kobe’s 385-square-meter facility sits in a district along the port city’s waterfront known as theKobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster(KBIC). Launched in 1998, three years after a devastating earthquake leveled the city, KBIC has recruited an impressive roster from public and private sectors, including 実写 版 ブラック ジャック’s national research institute RIKEN, Johnson & Johnson, and Boehringer Ingelheim. In 2014, research organizations and hospitals at KBIC teamed up to perform the world’s first cell-therapy operation, which involved transplanting stem (iPS) cells into the eye of a patient suffering from macronuclear degeneration.

“Kobe is a life science innovation ecosystem,” says Bayer’s Hayashi. “It’s one of the largest biomedical clusters in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック with a high concentration of hospitals, academia, research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and also startups.” It’s also conveniently close to Bayer Yakuhin’s headquarters, in Osaka.

The CoLaborator Kobe program is a favorable setup for startups in part thanks to Bayer’s no-strings-attached model. Companies that join––such as German biotech startupProvitroand 実写 版 ブラック ジャックese biotech companies Epigeneron, Myoridge and Hacarus––are not obligated to collaborate or share any intellectual property with Bayer. But they’re free to do so, through research partnerships, and have access to the pharmaceutical giant’s partnering interface, Collaborate to Cure 実写 版 ブラック ジャック Hub, as well as its global expertise, equipment, and research network.

For Berlin-based Provitro, which commercializes cell culture technologies and tissue microarrays, joining Bayer’s incubator in Kobe’s KBIC district opened a direct pathway into one of the world’s largest healthcare and medical markets. Fortunately, that sort of fast-track opportunity in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック for a foreign company that was founded only a decade ago is becoming a lot more common. “Provitro expanded really fast in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック once they started to use the CoLaborator space,” says Bayer’s Hayashi.

Kobe City has already poured 4.9 billion dollars into its KBIC project. Today, some 11,000 researchers and healthcare professionals work there. But KBIC isn’t the city’s only attention-worthy initiative. In 2021, Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe City launched theSDGs CHALLENGEstartup program, organizing acceleration programs and mentoring and networking support for startups that are working toward meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Eager to share its know-how with other regions, Kobe City now runsUrban Innovation 実写 版 ブラック ジャック, a platform that links startups and established companies with local governments nationwide to tackle regional issues––and a model of open innovation.

With state-of-the-art R&D centers and manufacturing facilities, well-respected universities, and advanced digital and transportation networks, 実写 版 ブラック ジャック’s other regions are also exploring ways to make the most of their strengths. TheKawasaki Innovation Gateway (KING SKYFRONT)[1*], a medical and environmental science center near Tokyo’s southern border, andFukuoka Growth Next[4*], a booming startup incubator in northern Kyushu, count among the most successful examples.

TheCentral 実写 版 ブラック ジャック Startup Ecosystem Consortium[2*] is a collaborative project between Aichi Prefecture, Nagoya City, and Hamamatsu City, while Osaka City, Kyoto City, and Kobe City have combined to buildStartup Ecosystem Kansai[3*]. Startup microcosms in other regions are on the rise, too, from the Kitakyushu SDGs Startup Ecosystem Consortium [8*] to theカジノ 無料 ゲーム」全13社のスタートアップ・起業家・研究者の採択決定[7*] in Hiroshima City and theSendai Startup Ecosystem[6*] in the northeastern Tohoku region to the northernmost island of Hokkaido where the Sapporo-Hokkaido Startup Ecosystem[5*] is boosting hopes for positive regional changes.

* Numbers correspond to locations shown on the map.

The flurry of activity pushed funding for startups in 実写 版 ブラック ジャック to a record-high 877.4 billion yen (6.75 billion dollars**) in 2022. At leastHas the Startup Ecosystem カジノ ブラック ジャック Japannationwide, nurtured in part by the diversity of services that are being rolled out for them and a wave of venture capital funding. Determined to build on the gains, 実写 版 ブラック ジャックese policymakers have called for bigger investments into so-called unicorns––new business ventures valued at more than 1 billion dollars ––in order to close the gap with the US and China.

** Converted at 130 yen to the US dollar