Kyoto startups look to Taiwan as global gateway

JStories — Kyoto, lengthy celebrated for its temples, traditions and tea, is more and more changing into a crucible of innovation. Now, Kyoto College’s wholly owned enterprise capital (VC) arm, Kyoto College Innovation Capital (Kyoto iCAP), is trying past Japan’s borders, concentrating on Taiwan as its subsequent strategic foothold in Asia.

Kyoto iCAP plans to determine a base in Taiwan by end-2026, a transfer that president Ko Kusumi describes as important. “As a springboard into Asia, Taiwan is extraordinarily promising,” he stated in an interview with JStories. “The time distinction is minimal, and in contrast with different markets, it’s far simpler to enter. Together with Singapore, it gives a pure gateway.”

Ko Kusumi, president of Kyoto College Innovation Capital (Kyoto iCAP), speaks throughout an interview with JStories Picture by Toshi Maeda | JStories (Identical beneath)

Established to commercialize the college’s primary analysis, Kyoto iCAP has already cast ties throughout the strait. In 2024, it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Taiwan’s Nationwide Growth Council, making a framework for government-level cooperation between Japan’s and Taiwan’s startup ecosystems.

The college VC’s curiosity in Taiwan startups dates again additional. In 2020, Kyoto iCAP invested in ACT Genomics, a Taiwanese medical startup working with Kyoto College researchers on superior most cancers diagnostics and drug discovery assist. Kusumi acknowledges Japan’s paradox: “Our universities produce world-class primary analysis, however relating to enterprise execution, we frequently have to study from locations like Taiwan.”

Reflecting the strengths of Kyoto College’s analysis, life sciences firms make up about half of Kyoto iCAP’s portfolio; primarily based on funding worth, the share is even greater. So far, Kyoto iCAP has backed greater than 70 startups, of which lower than 10 % are abroad ventures.

Based inside Kyoto University, Kyoto iCAP has invested over ¥16 billion ($108.2 million) in more than 70 startups. Fewer than 10 percent are overseas ventures, but the firm expects that number to rise — Based mostly inside Kyoto College, Kyoto iCAP has invested over ¥16 billion ($108.2 million) in additional than 70 startups. Fewer than 10 % are abroad ventures, however the agency expects that quantity to rise

A ‘small Silicon Valley’

The push abroad is matched by a strengthening startup ecosystem at house. On the middle of Kyoto sits KOIN, a co-working hub with practically 8,000 members and greater than 200 occasions a yr. “Out of the 600-plus startups in Kyoto Prefecture, I might say nearly all both purpose for abroad enlargement or are no less than keen on it,” stated Yuki Kanayama, deputy director of the group that manages KOIN.

Amongst them are a rising variety of pupil entrepreneurs. “Sensible pupil founders are rising one after one other from Kyoto,” Kanayama stated. Fields vary from inexperienced tech and AI to life sciences and {hardware}, creating an ecosystem some have known as a “small Silicon Valley” within the coronary heart of Japan.

In mid-August 2025, Kyoto hosted a seminar bringing together startup leaders from Japan and Taiwan — In mid-August 2025, Kyoto hosted a seminar bringing collectively startup leaders from Japan and Taiwan

Yuki Kanayama, deputy director of the Knowledge Capital Association, which works with Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto City and JETRO Kyoto to build an international startup ecosystem — Yuki Kanayama, deputy director of the Information Capital Affiliation, which works with Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto Metropolis and JETRO Kyoto to construct a global startup ecosystem

Sport-changing applied sciences

In some instances, fashionable expertise intertwines with historical heritage. As an illustration, Mitsufuji, an organization rooted in Kyoto’s centuries-old “Nishijin” weaving custom — famed for its intricate silk textiles — has entered the worldwide wearable gadget market. Through the use of silver-thread expertise for biosensing, what began as a textile manufacturing facility practically 70 years in the past has developed methods to detect early indicators of well being deterioration, reminiscent of heatstroke, and its world companions now embrace Taiwan Textile Analysis Institute (TTRI).

‘World First’ methods, even transferring overseas

For some startups, increasing overseas is not only an aspiration however a necessity. Shinobi Therapeutics, an iCAP-backed enterprise utilizing Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka’s induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell expertise for most cancers remedy, moved its headquarters to California. iPS cells are created by reprogramming mature grownup cells, reminiscent of pores and skin cells, again to an embryonic-like state, making them promising for regenerative medication.

“Given the dimensions of funding and the scale of the market, relocating abroad is commonly the rational alternative,” Kusumi stated. The guiding philosophy: develop the science in Japan, however commercialize wherever the enterprise surroundings is most favorable.

Taiwan: stage for proof-of-concept

That logic is driving Kyoto’s growing curiosity in Taiwan as a proving floor. Scientific trials and pilot initiatives which are tough to conduct in Japan can typically be executed extra easily there. Kusumi remembers seeing autonomous driving assessments in Hong Kong 5 or 6 years in the past, powered — he later discovered — by a Kyoto College professor’s expertise.

“It was gratifying to see our analysis utilized in society,” he stated. “However on the identical time, it was irritating to appreciate that international startups had been those placing it to make use of earlier than Japan.”

The Information Capital Affiliation’s deputy director, Kanayama, agreed that Taiwan may ease that frustration. The island might be the best testing stage for Japanese biotech and drug discovery startups earlier than they go world, he stated.

At a Kyoto University symposium in August, leaders including Kyoto Vice Governor Kazuya Suzuki (right), Taiwan’s National Development Council minister Chin-Ching Liu (center), and Kyoto Deputy Mayor Norikazu Okada (left) discussed cross-border collaboration — At a Kyoto College symposium in August, leaders together with Kyoto Vice Governor Kazuya Suzuki (proper), Taiwan’s Nationwide Growth Council minister Chin-Ching Liu (middle), and Kyoto Deputy Mayor Norikazu Okada (left) mentioned cross-border collaboration

A brand new cross-border innovation mannequin

The ambition goes past exporting Japanese expertise. Innovators in Kyoto and Taiwan hope to mix the strengths of Japan’s cutting-edge science with Taiwan’s and even Southeast Asia’s market alternatives. That’s as a result of many see Taiwan as a gateway for Japanese corporations to develop additional into Southeast Asian nations by way of the area’s community of Chinese language-speaking enterprise neighborhood.

Kyoto iCap already has a liaison workplace in Singapore. With a deliberate new workplace in Taipei, the college VC goals to realize traction all through East and Southeast Asia, an enormous market with a mixed inhabitants of two.3 billion folks.

“Worldwide enlargement will not be an finish in itself,” Kusumi stated. “It’s a way to realize the true purpose: bringing Japan’s analysis outcomes into society as rapidly as doable. If which means launching in Taiwan as an alternative of Japan, that’s high-quality. What issues is velocity.”