Open innovation center to create new industries

SANKEN Research Park is a center for open innovation that creates new industries by utilizing SANKEN's research results and scientific and technological research infrastructure.

SANKEN Research Park is located on the premises of SANKEN and is open to companies that conduct joint research and companies that aim to create new industries through collaboration. The SANKEN Research Park provides wet laboratories, dry laboratories, clean rooms, and research laboratories to meet the needs of companies, and serves as a base for the creation of new industries with companies.

Purpose of Establishment

Nanotechnology is expected to become a key technology in a wide range of 21st century industries, including the environment, energy, medicine, and information technology. However, the development of nanotechnology requires a large number of facilities and human resources, as well as a foundation of basic research, and entails significant development risks. On the other hand, recent investments in nanotechnology research in Japan, Europe, and the United States have resulted in the accumulation of basic nanotechnology technologies and infrastructure at universities. In the field of nanotechnology, there is a growing trend worldwide for companies to collaborate with universities and utilize university resources.

These centers are characterized by:
1) the location of the company's development center within the university (on-campus);
2) open innovation, where multiple companies have laboratories within the center and exchange information and stimulate each other while maintaining confidentiality;
3) acceptance of public funding.

In Japan, on the other hand, there are very few examples of corporate laboratories being established within universities, and the co-location of multiple corporate laboratories in one location has tended to be avoided from the standpoint of confidentiality. However, we believe that in order to survive in the fierce international competition, it is absolutely necessary for Japan to conduct open innovation by utilizing the resources of universities in corporate development research.

SANKEN was the first in Japan to establish the Industrial Science and Nanotechnology Center in 2002 and to construct the Nanotechnology Integrated Research Building in 2003, leading Japan's nanoscience basic research. The Institute also houses many facilities useful for nanotechnology development and research, including the Osaka University Complex Functional Nano-foundry, the Quantum Beam Science Research Facility, and the Comprehensive Analysis Center. We believe that it is the responsibility of the Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (ISIR) to utilize these assets for the development and research of companies and to utilize the seeds originating from ISIR for industrialization. We have decided to provide a place for open innovation for a wide range of related companies.

By locating their development base in the Incubation Building in SANKEN, small and medium-sized companies can make effective use of Sankyo's facilities, and can also make use of the university's excellent human resources through joint research. Since the range of nanotechnology-related companies is very broad and diverse, the exchange of information and collaboration among the companies that are clustered in the incubation facility is also expected to be very effective. The management of the corporate research park in the incubation building will reflect the opinions of the companies through the corporate members of the Japan Industrial Science and Technology Research Association. Together with the Industrial Science Research Association, we will design a system for the operation of the park, confidentiality, information exchange, patent application, and intellectual property management, and through these activities, we aim to be a catalyst for the promotion of nanotechnology and related industries in the Kansai region.

Facilities available

Shared-use equipment

Public Facilities