Academia and Corporate Utilize the City to Realize End-to-End Research, Proof of Concept, 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' within UDCK Town Management. It provides an end-to-end support system for new business creation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, aiming to create 100 businesses in 10 years.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 23, 2026 at 23:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 23, 2026 at 14:31
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 23:08 (8h 36m after Collected)
Key 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. Dedicated members from both companies are seconded to establish the project team 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' within UDCK Town Management.
The co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' and other initiatives promoted so far will be constructively reorganized and deployed in an integrated manner as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH' *1 towards the creation of new industries.
This is a leading initiative in Japan that completely integrates the city-scale co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with the new business development functions (software/programs), implementing an end-to-end mechanism up to commercialization.
By continuously generating businesses from Japan's top-level seeds, it aims to form a cycle of industry creation and accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, with the goal of generating and accumulating 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 urban development in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City for 20 years, and Relic Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director & CEO: Takaro Kitajima / Representative Director & CTO: Ryo Oba, hereinafter 'Relic'), which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies nationwide, have signed a business alliance agreement. They will completely integrate the city-scale 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' aimed at new industry creation.
In conjunction with this, to accelerate the creation and accumulation of new industries in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City (Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture), the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' (hereinafter 'this Organization') will be established within the Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha (UDCK) Town Management (Headquarters: Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, Representative Director: Yu Yamamoto, hereinafter 'UDCK Town Management'), which promotes urban development through public-private-academic collaboration.
Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City has historically promoted the 'provision of fields 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 bases of major corporations have also moved in, advancing industrial accumulation and community formation in the fields of life sciences and hard tech.
Through this initiative, we will promote efforts as an 'industrial developer' responsible for creating and nurturing industries. Furthermore, using Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City as a model, we aim to realize and expand a city where innovation continues to be born.
*1: 'CO-GROWTH' is redefined as an action brand that expands its target areas and functions under this Organization, while based on the co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' previously promoted in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City.
■ Basic Actions of this Organization
This Organization will integrally execute the following four basic actions for business ideas and projects inside and outside the region. In addition to promoting the commercialization of individual projects, we will progressively promote a virtuous cycle of new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha by continuously operating the flow of 'project creation -> proof of concept -> evaluation -> implementation/horizontal expansion' by theme, centering on businesses born in the region and local players.
Action 1: 'Create'
In collaboration with the University of Tokyo, Chiba University, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) located in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, we will newly implement a mechanism to discover the technological seeds of researchers and students and commercialize research results.
Action 2: 'Call'
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, we will attract business development and proof of concept from domestic and overseas startups and major companies by promoting the appeal of Kashiwa-no-ha, where the entire city is a test field and an easy place to experiment. We will also connect businesses born in the region with businesses outside the region as needed.
Action 3: 'Test'
Even in the current co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH', co-creation with multiple companies is progressing. We will provide end-to-end proof-of-concept support, comprehensively providing all necessary support for demonstration as quickly as possible, such as regulatory adjustments, securing demonstration locations, consumer-perspective feedback, and data acquisition support.
Action 4: 'Nurture'
Leveraging Relic's strengths with its proven track record in new business development, we will provide seamless support tailored to the growth stage of the business, including building and verifying business hypotheses, expanding sales channels and collaborative partners, supporting capital policy and fundraising, and even investment functions.
■ Future Initiatives
This Organization will implement (1) a program aimed at creating startups from academia, (2) recruitment and composition of demonstration themes by category, and (...)
Mitsui Fudosan and Relic, which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies, have concluded a business alliance agreement. Dedicated members from both companies are seconded to establish the project team 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' within UDCK Town Management.
The co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' and other initiatives promoted so far will be constructively reorganized and deployed in an integrated manner as the action brand 'CO-GROWTH' *1 towards the creation of new industries.
This is a leading initiative in Japan that completely integrates the city-scale co-creation environment (hardware/community) of Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City with the new business development functions (software/programs), implementing an end-to-end mechanism up to commercialization.
By continuously generating businesses from Japan's top-level seeds, it aims to form a cycle of industry creation and accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, with the goal of generating and accumulating 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 urban development in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City for 20 years, and Relic Inc. (Headquarters: Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Representative Director & CEO: Takaro Kitajima / Representative Director & CTO: Ryo Oba, hereinafter 'Relic'), which has supported new business development for over 5,000 companies nationwide, have signed a business alliance agreement. They will completely integrate the city-scale 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' aimed at new industry creation.
In conjunction with this, to accelerate the creation and accumulation of new industries in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City (Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture), the 'Kashiwa-no-ha Co-creation Organization' (hereinafter 'this Organization') will be established within the Urban Design Center Kashiwa-no-ha (UDCK) Town Management (Headquarters: Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, Representative Director: Yu Yamamoto, hereinafter 'UDCK Town Management'), which promotes urban development through public-private-academic collaboration.
Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City has historically promoted the 'provision of fields 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 bases of major corporations have also moved in, advancing industrial accumulation and community formation in the fields of life sciences and hard tech.
Through this initiative, we will promote efforts as an 'industrial developer' responsible for creating and nurturing industries. Furthermore, using Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City as a model, we aim to realize and expand a city where innovation continues to be born.
*1: 'CO-GROWTH' is redefined as an action brand that expands its target areas and functions under this Organization, while based on the co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH' previously promoted in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City.
■ Basic Actions of this Organization
This Organization will integrally execute the following four basic actions for business ideas and projects inside and outside the region. In addition to promoting the commercialization of individual projects, we will progressively promote a virtuous cycle of new industry creation and industrial accumulation in Kashiwa-no-ha by continuously operating the flow of 'project creation -> proof of concept -> evaluation -> implementation/horizontal expansion' by theme, centering on businesses born in the region and local players.
Action 1: 'Create'
In collaboration with the University of Tokyo, Chiba University, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) located in Kashiwa-no-ha Smart City, we will newly implement a mechanism to discover the technological seeds of researchers and students and commercialize research results.
Action 2: 'Call'
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, we will attract business development and proof of concept from domestic and overseas startups and major companies by promoting the appeal of Kashiwa-no-ha, where the entire city is a test field and an easy place to experiment. We will also connect businesses born in the region with businesses outside the region as needed.
Action 3: 'Test'
Even in the current co-growth program 'CO-GROWTH', co-creation with multiple companies is progressing. We will provide end-to-end proof-of-concept support, comprehensively providing all necessary support for demonstration as quickly as possible, such as regulatory adjustments, securing demonstration locations, consumer-perspective feedback, and data acquisition support.
Action 4: 'Nurture'
Leveraging Relic's strengths with its proven track record in new business development, we will provide seamless support tailored to the growth stage of the business, including building and verifying business hypotheses, expanding sales channels and collaborative partners, supporting capital policy and fundraising, and even investment functions.
■ Future Initiatives
This Organization will implement (1) a program aimed at creating startups from academia, (2) recruitment and composition of demonstration themes by category, and (...)