Academia and Enterprises Utilize the City to Seamlessly Realize Research, PoC, and Commercialization: Mitsui Fudosan and Business Co-creation Company Relic Establish Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization
Mitsui Fudosan and Relic have formed a business alliance to establish the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization.' This initiative fully integrates Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City's infrastructure with business development programs, aiming to create 100 new businesses over the next 10 years.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 23, 2026 at 23:32
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 15:01
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 20:14 (5h 12m after Collected)
Points of this release
- Mitsui Fudosan and Relic, which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies, have concluded a business alliance agreement. Specialized members from both companies will be seconded to establish a project team, the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization,' within UDCK Town Management.
- The co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' and other initiatives promoted so far will be developingly reorganized and integrally deployed as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH'*1 for new industry creation.
- This is a pioneering initiative in Japan that fully integrates the city-level co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with new business development functions (software/programs) to implement a seamless mechanism up to commercialization.
- It aims to continuously create businesses from Japan's top-level seeds, form a cycle of industry creation and accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, and create and accumulate 100 ambitious businesses over the next 10 years.
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Takashi Ueda; hereinafter 'Mitsui Fudosan'), which has been promoting city development in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City for 20 years, and Relic Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Takaro Kitajima / Representative Director and CTO: Ryo Oba; hereinafter 'Relic'), which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies nationwide, have concluded a business alliance agreement. They will fully integrate the city-level co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with new business development functions (software/programs) and deploy it as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH' for new industry creation.
Along with this, to accelerate new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City (Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture), the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' (hereinafter 'this Co-creation Organization') will be established within the general incorporated association UDCK Town Management (Headquarters: Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture; Representative Director: Yu Yamamoto; hereinafter 'UDCK Town Management'), which promotes city building through public-private-academic collaboration.
Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City has historically promoted 'providing venues for proof-of-concept' and 'co-creation with diverse players in the city.' In recent years, in addition to the accumulation of companies in rental laboratories such as Mitsui Link Lab Kashiwa-no-ha, research centers of large enterprises are also moving in, advancing industrial accumulation and community formation in the fields of life sciences and hard tech.
Through this initiative, Mitsui Fudosan will promote its efforts as an 'industrial developer' responsible for the creation and nurturing of industries. Furthermore, using Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City as a model, it aims to realize and expand cities where innovation continues to be born.
*1: 'CO-GROWTH' is redefined as an action brand that expands its target areas and functions under this Co-creation Organization, while being based on the co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' that has been promoted in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City.
■ Basic Actions of this Co-creation Organization
This Co-creation Organization will integrally execute the following four basic actions for business ideas and businesses within and outside the region. In addition to promoting the commercialization of individual projects, it will gradually promote a virtuous cycle of new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha by continuously operating 'project generation → PoC → evaluation → introduction/horizontal expansion' by theme, centering on businesses born in the region and regional players.
Action 1: 'Create'
In collaboration with national university corporations the University of Tokyo, Chiba University, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology located in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, a new mechanism will be implemented to discover the technological seeds of researchers and students and commercialize research results.
Action 2: 'Attract'
Utilizing Relic's network of 5,000 companies, Mitsui Fudosan's network of thousands of companies, and networks related to venture co-creation businesses and CVC, it will appeal to the charm of Kashiwa-no-ha, where the entire city is a demonstration field and an easy place to test, to attract business development and PoC of domestic and overseas startups and major companies. In addition, businesses born in the region will be connected with businesses outside the region as necessary.
Action 3: 'Test'
In the current co-growth program 'Co-Growth,' co-creation with multiple companies is progressing. It will provide seamless PoC support, comprehensively offering all necessary assistance for PoC in the shortest and fastest time, such as regulatory adjustment, securing PoC locations, feedback from the consumer's perspective, and data acquisition support.
Action 4: 'Nurture'
Leveraging Relic's proven track record in new business development, it will provide continuous support tailored to the growth stage of the business, from building and verifying business hypotheses, expanding sales channels and collaborative partners, to capital policy and fundraising support, and even investment functions.
■ Future Initiatives
This Co-creation Organization plans to implement (1) a program for creating academia-launched startups, (2) theme-based demonstration themes.
- Mitsui Fudosan and Relic, which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies, have concluded a business alliance agreement. Specialized members from both companies will be seconded to establish a project team, the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization,' within UDCK Town Management.
- The co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' and other initiatives promoted so far will be developingly reorganized and integrally deployed as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH'*1 for new industry creation.
- This is a pioneering initiative in Japan that fully integrates the city-level co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with new business development functions (software/programs) to implement a seamless mechanism up to commercialization.
- It aims to continuously create businesses from Japan's top-level seeds, form a cycle of industry creation and accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, and create and accumulate 100 ambitious businesses over the next 10 years.
Mitsui Fudosan Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Takashi Ueda; hereinafter 'Mitsui Fudosan'), which has been promoting city development in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City for 20 years, and Relic Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director and CEO: Takaro Kitajima / Representative Director and CTO: Ryo Oba; hereinafter 'Relic'), which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies nationwide, have concluded a business alliance agreement. They will fully integrate the city-level co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with new business development functions (software/programs) and deploy it as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH' for new industry creation.
Along with this, to accelerate new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City (Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture), the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' (hereinafter 'this Co-creation Organization') will be established within the general incorporated association UDCK Town Management (Headquarters: Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture; Representative Director: Yu Yamamoto; hereinafter 'UDCK Town Management'), which promotes city building through public-private-academic collaboration.
Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City has historically promoted 'providing venues for proof-of-concept' and 'co-creation with diverse players in the city.' In recent years, in addition to the accumulation of companies in rental laboratories such as Mitsui Link Lab Kashiwa-no-ha, research centers of large enterprises are also moving in, advancing industrial accumulation and community formation in the fields of life sciences and hard tech.
Through this initiative, Mitsui Fudosan will promote its efforts as an 'industrial developer' responsible for the creation and nurturing of industries. Furthermore, using Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City as a model, it aims to realize and expand cities where innovation continues to be born.
*1: 'CO-GROWTH' is redefined as an action brand that expands its target areas and functions under this Co-creation Organization, while being based on the co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' that has been promoted in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City.
■ Basic Actions of this Co-creation Organization
This Co-creation Organization will integrally execute the following four basic actions for business ideas and businesses within and outside the region. In addition to promoting the commercialization of individual projects, it will gradually promote a virtuous cycle of new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha by continuously operating 'project generation → PoC → evaluation → introduction/horizontal expansion' by theme, centering on businesses born in the region and regional players.
Action 1: 'Create'
In collaboration with national university corporations the University of Tokyo, Chiba University, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology located in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, a new mechanism will be implemented to discover the technological seeds of researchers and students and commercialize research results.
Action 2: 'Attract'
Utilizing Relic's network of 5,000 companies, Mitsui Fudosan's network of thousands of companies, and networks related to venture co-creation businesses and CVC, it will appeal to the charm of Kashiwa-no-ha, where the entire city is a demonstration field and an easy place to test, to attract business development and PoC of domestic and overseas startups and major companies. In addition, businesses born in the region will be connected with businesses outside the region as necessary.
Action 3: 'Test'
In the current co-growth program 'Co-Growth,' co-creation with multiple companies is progressing. It will provide seamless PoC support, comprehensively offering all necessary assistance for PoC in the shortest and fastest time, such as regulatory adjustment, securing PoC locations, feedback from the consumer's perspective, and data acquisition support.
Action 4: 'Nurture'
Leveraging Relic's proven track record in new business development, it will provide continuous support tailored to the growth stage of the business, from building and verifying business hypotheses, expanding sales channels and collaborative partners, to capital policy and fundraising support, and even investment functions.
■ Future Initiatives
This Co-creation Organization plans to implement (1) a program for creating academia-launched startups, (2) theme-based demonstration themes.