An Environment of Startups & Innovation

The Japanese government selected Osaka as a global city. Looking ahead to hosting Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai and creating a smart city, companies, universities, and government are partnering to produce globally successful startup firms and create a globally competitive startup ecosystem. This effort is concentrated in the Umekita area and its accumulated resources for producing innovation.

Osaka Innovation Hub

Hub to connect people around the world and create innovation

“The Osaka Innovation Hub (OIH)” is located in the Grand Front Osaka complex in the Umekita area, adjacent to Osaka Station (Umeda), the largest terminal in western Japan. With the aim of creating startups from Osaka that will be active on the global stage, the center takes advantage of its location in Umeda and serves as a hub connecting players. It also hosts a variety of events such as pitch events, acceleration programs, and international conferences etc.

OIH is a place where resources needed for innovation can converge. We strive to provide the best meeting place where enthusiastic people from all over the world can gather, find mutual understanding, and take on new business challenges in a speedy manner.

As of August 2023, there are more than 1,200 player members, mainly entrepreneurs, and more than 450 partner members, including companies and government agencies that work with OIH to create new projects.

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Gateway to the world – Osaka Innovation to the world-

Osaka City has strived to build relationships with innovation-developed countries around the world to help Japanese companies gain a foothold in those countries.

Demonstration Experiment Site for Co-creating Innovation

Osaka, the City of Demonstration Project – The entire city is the experimental field to create innovation-

In cooperation with the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City support demonstration projects and social implementation utilizing cutting-edge technologies related to city development, IoT, robot technology, drones, AI, healthcare, big data, etc. by providing public spaces and public facilities.
In addition, at the commercial complex ATC in the bay area, the entire facility including outdoor spaces, stores, aisles, offices, and backyards is used as a demonstration field as well as sports facilities in Maishima (arena, stadium, etc.).

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Tech Osaka Summit

Hack Osaka, an international innovation conference hosted by Osaka City, has been reborn and expanded in scale. This global startup event brings together startups, global companies, and investors from all over the world to foster mutual growth through networking and collaboration.

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In September 2024, a preliminary town opening was held for “Grand Green Osaka”, the Umekita phase 2 development area (appx. 17ha), which will lead to an urban greenery and a -citizen-participating innovation.

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Successively emerging innovation centers.

In recent years, there has been a surge in support for startups, including companies that are promoting open innovation with other firms to develop new products and services, as well as businesses with their own support know-how and networks.
Even in Osaka, unique innovation centers are emerging one after another across the city, bringing together companies, information, and investment, and becoming places where innovation thrives.

Osaka Ecosystem Map

A potential for innovation

“Grand Front Osaka, Umekita multi-purpose building”

Osaka, the center of the Kansai area which has the second largest economy in Japan, has excellent domestic/international access and serves as a gateway for the Kansai area. Nowadays, it has gained popularity as a world-class-tourism spot to foreign tourists. Well organized MICE facilities and a battery of big international events held herein has provided many chances for multicultural interaction, in daily basis.

An industrial cluster covering manufacturing, service and other wide range of sectors resides in the central business district, where many MNEs locate their offices and numerous SMEs bolstering Osaka’s manufacturing exist. It also has unique companies that have occupied a lion’s share of the niche markets with one and only technologies, or companies with 100+ year history flexibly and successfully have survived a dazzling transition of the society.

Moreover, Kansai has globally renowned universities and research institutions in Life science, energy, AI, VR, robotics, and other fields, which attain a significant progress in research and a collaboration between the academics and the industries.

In this way, Osaka has optimized its potential and pursued a global innovation interconnecting people, technology, capital, and innovation.

We are waiting you at "Innovation City Osaka", where you meet opportunities.