Japanese minister visits White City to see Imperial’s innovation ecosystem

A delegation of policymakers from Japan have visited White City to learn about Imperial’s innovation ecosystem and its success with growing startups.

Japan’s Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yoshitaka Shindo and senior officials from the Japanese Government travelled to Imperial’s White City Deep Tech Campus on Monday to see how the Campus is supporting and attracting a vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators.

The White City Innovation District is home to a range of cutting-edge interdisciplinary research facilities, global academic and corporate partners, and programmes that support training for entrepreneurs and investment for startup companies.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of Imperial’s work, and we look forward to further deepening our relationship with Japanese companies and institutions to accelerate the translation of research breakthroughs.” Professor Ian Walmsley Provost of Imperial College London

During the visit, the delegation met with Imperial’s Provost Professor Ian Walmsley and was introduced to key entrepreneurial initiatives at the College, such as Scale Space, the I-Hub, the Imperial White City Incubator and Undaunted (Imperial's initiative to support climate tech start-ups).

The Government of Japan has made strengthening the country’s startup sector a key economic priority and, through its Startup Development Plan, seeks to increase the number of startups in Japan by tenfold. A record 945.9 billion Yen was raised by Japanese startups in 2022, reflecting a growing ecosystem and new opportunities.

Professor Walmsley said: “We are pleased to welcome Japan’s Minister for Economic and Fiscal Policy to our White City Campus to share how Imperial is bringing academia and business together to support the next generation of startups. Japan is a key collaborator for Imperial, particularly in areas such as cleantech, energy research, and sustainability.

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the heart of Imperial’s work, and we look forward to further deepening our relationship with Japanese companies and institutions to accelerate the translation of research breakthroughs.”

Close collaborators

Japan is one of the College’s closest collaborators for academic research and industry partnerships. In March 2023, Imperial’s President, Professor Hugh Brady, visited the country to deepen connections and explore exciting new opportunities to collaborate across a range of sectors, including energy, pharma and biotech, and entertainment.

Imperial enjoys strong research collaborations with Japan’s top universities including the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, with Imperial academics having co-authored more than 1,400 research papers with peers in Japan over the last five years.

The College also carries out collaborative research with several of the most famous names in Japanese industry. Imperial has worked with more than 25 leading Japanese businesses in the past decade in projects worth approximately $17 million.

Partnerships for cleantech innovation and Net Zero

Imperial and the University of Tokyo recently launched a major new strategic relationship for cleantech and energy research in May 2023, announced by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at a UK-Japan business forum ahead of the G7 Summit in Hiroshima. The Presidents of Imperial and the University of Tokyo signed the agreement, witnessed by the Executive Chairman and the Chief Technology Officer of Hitachi, Ltd. 

In addition to this, Imperial and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have a joint research centre to improve turbocharger design and develop cleaner engines. The MHIET-Imperial Future Boosting Innovation Centre carries out detailed research on state-of-the-art turbocharger and exhaust energy technologies to improve engine performance and operation, and enable low carbon engine technology.

Cultivating startup networks

Imperial’s collaborations with Japan also extend to supporting entrepreneurship and startups, working with top universities and industry partners to encourage innovation in Japan and the UK.

University of Tokyo is a partner university for the Global Challenge Lab, a virtual entrepreneurship programme run by Imperial’s Enterprise Lab. Every year, hundreds of students from around the world partake in a 14-day hackathon to find solutions to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

In October 2023, a group of medical and life sciences startup founders visited Japan to participate in the international biotechnology expo, BioJapan 2023. This event also saw a keynote speech from Professor Hugh Brady on how Imperial is working to speed up the development of medical innovations that have the potential to be as transformational as penicillin.