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Kobe to strengthen medical industry cluster

The ‘Kobe Medical Industry Development Project’ represents Japanese cluster development on a grand scale within the medical industry. Kobe is located in the Kansai region, which accounts for 19% of Japan’s GDP (50 billion US dollars in 1998) and takes advantage of a large population of 23 million. Within this advantageous region, the Japanese government has worked with the city authorities and private industry to design and build a world-class research facility: Kobe Medical Industry Development Project

The project is surrounded by and composed of established companies; such as Siemens, GEMS, Hitachi, and the World Health Organization; universities of Kyote, Osaka, & Kobe; modern transportation; hospitals; a highly skilled workforce and many supporting industries.

One of the goals of this venture is to continue to attract firms in the areas of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment/devices, biotechnology, and in particular, tissue engineering. To help ensure the success of such a large investment, this development is home to agencies like the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology. With over 200 researchers and a budget of over five billion yen per year, it is companies like this that will maintain the competitiveness of the medical industry in areas such as embryonic stem cell studies.



You can find further information at the following links:

Kobe Medical Industry Development Project Study Group

Doing Business in Kobe