Greater Tokyo Biocommunity has been certified by the Japanese government as a global biocommunity
Greater Tokyo Biocommunity (GTB) was established in October 2021 to strengthen the bioindustry ecosystem and achieve the goal of "realizing the world's most advanced bioeconomy society by 2030," as stated in the Japanese government's "Japan Bioeconomy Strategy". The GTB promotes the formation of a global biocommunity hub in Tokyo and its surrounding areas, with the participation of a total of 45 organizations including local governments, universities, research institutes, bio-related organizations, industry support organizations, as well as financial and investment institutions. In April 2022, the GTB received accreditation as a global biocommunity from the Japanese government and is on the verge of accelerating its efforts even more.
The GTB is home to many world-class universities and research institutes conducting research on new technologies. This indicates that there is a rich research environment generating many results and development pipelines. In fact, the concentration of pharmaceutical (Chugai, Daiichi Sankyo, Astellas, Takeda and so forth) and startup companies in the GTB has created a large number of development pipelines, even when viewed from a global perspective.
Although the biotech ecosystem is still developing compared to the world's major bio-communities, there have been leading efforts by various startup companies, not only in pharmaceuticals, but also in agriculture and the environment, which have also resulted in numerous success stories.
Hubs for promoting innovation are being formed around eight areas in the GTB: Tsukuba, Kashiwanoha, Hongo/Ochanomizu/Tokyo Station, Nihonbashi, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Shonan, and Chiba/Kazusa. Each area activates collaboration between industries, academia and the government to promote innovation. By clarifying the value chain of each center and improving its functions, the greater Tokyo area will build a one-stop system for the entire region enabling everything from research and development to commercialization, thereby creating even greater results. Each area is seeking collaboration with global companies to promote the seeds of effective commercialization. European companies are invited to cooperate.
Published: April 2023