Winner of the METI Minister Award under the Second Commendation Program for Supporting Regional Industries (Innovation-Net Award 2013)

Japan is now taking actions to efficiently and effectively support regional small and medium enterprises (SMEs), etc., throughout Japan under METI's Industrial Cluster Policy*, and other measures, mainly with the help of other support organizations. To continue to achieve further development in the regions, it is necessary to create a new system in which regional enterprises learn about the outstanding efforts of other regional enterprises and gain the initiative to lead in revitalizing and activating regional industries. METI created the Commendation Program to encourage such regional enterprises to take a stronger initiative to revitalize and activate regional industries.

*Industrial Cluster Policy:
The Industrial Cluster Policy aims to enhance the global competitiveness of Japan's industry and the activation of the regional economy by creating "industrial clusters", where cooperation among industry, academia and government, within industries or across different industries, is consolidated into a broad network to facilitate the creation of new industries or businesses throughout Japan.
For the details of the policy, visit the following website (reference):
http://www.meti.go.jp/policy/local_economy/tiikiinnovation/english.ver4.html

Awarded Project:

Project to Comprehensively Support Industries for Research and Development SMEs that Bolster the Creation of Innovation in the Kyoto Area

Winner:

Advanced Scientific Technology & Management Research Institute of Kyoto (established in 1988)

Reason:

The organization has been developing comprehensive industrial support for SMEs that conduct research and development. It is particularly impressive that it has collaborated with public research institutes, universities and some of the Japan's top business owners and also created a close network with many venture businesses and SMEs as a basis of supporting the creation of new business. It presents a good model to be followed by other regions, as it developed a wide variety of supportive activities for entities from venture businesses to SMEs through cooperation among industry, academia and government, and has achieved steady results.

METI selected the winner out of 34 applicants through a fair examination by the Examination Committee**, composed of industrial, academic and governmental experts, from three viewpoints: [i] economic effects, [ii] utilization of regional resources, and [iii] uniqueness of the project.

**The Examination Committee is chaired by Mr. Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Senior Adviser, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and is composed of seven other members.

A commendation ceremony will be held as a part of the Commendation Program for Supporting Regional Industries (Innovation-Net Award 2013).

Date:

Friday, June 21, 2013, 14:30-

Venue:

TEPIA, 2-8-44, Kita-Aoyama, Minato Ward, Tokyo

• Note 1: Details of the ceremony will be announced in a separate press release.(PDF:00KB)
• Note 2: For the remainder of the winners of the Commendation Program for Supporting Regional Industries (Innovation Net Award 2013), see Appendix.(PDF:174KB) (in Japanese)

March 13, 2013

Regional Innovative Industry Strategy Office, Regional Economic and Industrial Policy Group, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau