Kyoto Research Park Celebrates 35th Anniversary Event

Pioneer of Support Facilities for Emerging Startups

Kyoto Research Park celebrated its 35th anniversary. On July 31, Kyoto Research Park (KRP), an industrial cluster for startup companies, held an event to mark its 35th anniversary. KRP's president, Mitsuo Asano, noted that the number of support centers for startup companies is increasing nationwide, and cited “the concentration of support organizations from Kyoto Prefecture and the city of Kyoto, which allows us to provide one-stop services,” as a strength. KRP is operated by a subsidiary of Osaka Gas and opened in October 1989 on the site of the company's former gas plant. It houses offices and laboratories, and approximately 510 companies and organizations have taken up occupancy.

Just prior to the commemorative ceremony, Akira Yoshino, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 for the development of lithium-ion batteries, gave a lecture on advanced research originating in Kyoto. In his speech, Atsushi Horiba, Chairman and Group CEO of Horiba Seisakusho, referred to the current education system in Japan and emphasized that it is problematic in that it is memory-based and that "if the system is changed to a system that nurtures sharp human resources, excellent technology will be born again from Japan.

As part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen global ties and support startups in reaching international markets, Kyoto Research Park signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaga TechPark, a major innovation cluster in Spain. The MoU was signed by Mr. Mitsuo Asano, President of KRP, and Ms. Carolina España Reina, President of Malaga TechPark and Regional Minister for Economy, Finance and European Funds. The signing was witnessed by Mr. Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla, President of the Regional Government of Andalusia, and Mr. Íñigo de Palacio España, Ambassador of Spain to Japan.

Established in 1992, Malaga TechPark is a public-private initiative supported by the Regional Government of Andalusia, the Malaga City Council, Unicaja Bank, and the University of Malaga. It is home to 700 companies and 28,000 professionals across a 2.3 million square meter site.

The new MoU aims to deepen cooperation in research and development, knowledge transfer, human capital development, and business exchange—supporting Kyoto-based startups seeking expansion into Europe and welcoming Spanish ventures into Japan.

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