Japan

Japan's Kansai region (Osaka-Kyoto-Kobe) concentrates major life-science assets in a compact geography, enabling close collaboration among universities, national R&D agencies and companies. Flagship facilities include Nakanoshima Qross in Osaka, a three-part hub (“Future Medicine R&D Center,” “Future Medicine MED Center” and “Nakanoshima International Forum”) that co-locates small labs/offices, hospitals and conference space to support “future medicine” from research to practice. The Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA) at Kyoto University, that was established for the medical application of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, hosts around 30 groups and about 500 researchers and provides iPS cells and related materials to partners. In December 2024, the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) opened a Kansai Branch at Nakanoshima Qross to support early-stage regulatory queries from academia and industry. In addition, the Tokyo-Yokohama area is recognized as the world's largest science and technology cluster, home to major national universities, RIKEN (Japan's largest comprehensive research institution) and the newly established Institute of Science Tokyo (founded in 2024). According to the Global Innovation Index 2025, Tokyo-Yokohama ranks 2nd, Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto 11th and Nagoya 28th among the world's top innovation clusters. National R&D intensity stood at 3.44% of GDP in 2023, placing Japan 5th globally.