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| Building a base for providing next-generation industries with advanced devices and manufacturing inspection equipment |
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We aim to building a base for providing next-generation industries including the next-generation's automobile, life Sciences, Environment, Robot industries with advanced devices and manufacturing inspection equipment, by using the potential of the precision machinery industry in the Suwa area and the electron electromechanical industry in the Yamanashi region. |
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Cities of Okaya, Suwa, Shiojiri and Ueda in Nagano Prefecture, Kofu and Fujiyoshida City in Yamanashi Prefecture and surrounding areas |
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Council for the Creation and Promotion of New Industries in the Region along the chuo Expressway
Nagano Techno Foundation (Suwa area)
URL: http://www.tech.or.jp/ TEL: +81-26-226-8101 FAX: +81-26-226-8838
Yamanashi Industry Support Organization (Yamanashi area)
URL: http://www.yiso.or.jp/ TEL: +81-55-243-1888 FAX: +81-55-243-1885
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Ueda
Textile Science Foundationand ARIC,
NPO Suwa Region
Monodukuri Promotion Organization, NPO Monodukuri Support
Organization and Shiojiri
Incubation Plaza (SIP) |
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| 500 companies, 15 universities and public research institutes, 11 local governments, and 7 financial institutions have formed a network. The Project has collaborated globally through DTF research meetings. And collaborated the Support Activities for Networks in Western Tokyo Metropolitan Area (TAMA) and other Industrial Cluster, as well as interministerial collaboration including Knowledge Cluster Initiative. |
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This initiative centers on the promotional organizations to form alliances
in the region comprising Nagano, Niigata, Yamanashi, and Shizuoka
prefectures, with each area's coordinator at the core, in
the aim of holding wide-area industry-industry matching meetings
as part of the Yamanashi-Nagano-Niigata-Shizuoka wide-area
exchange project, and creating a fusion of the strong technologies
of the R&D companies in the region.
The initiative also includes projects such as the Industry-University Interaction in Shinshu and the Wide-area Industry-University Interaction Network in Nagano in order to bolster industry-university tie-ups by matching technology seeds at universities in a broad area with the needs of companies. Based on the desktop factory (DTF) concept of using small equipment to manufacture small parts, the initiative is organizing DTF research meetings together with local companies and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). The initiative is actively promoting international alliances by holding international fora, sending missions to Finland, Switzerland, and elsewhere, and exhibiting at international robotics conferences, among other efforts, in the primary aim of joint research and business matching. |
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| Efforts to promote industry-university collaborations include business matching activities supported by coordinators, search of projects to be qualified for subsidies for research and development activities, forums and seminars, and operations of development-oriented research projects. It is planned to continue to actively promote project support. |
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An alliance forum between TAMA and the cluster for Creation and Promotion of New Industries in the Region along the Chuo Expressway was begun last FY to foster tie-ups with the industrial cluster of the Western Tokyo Metropolitan Area Network (TAMA), to which developmental SMEs capable of grasping market needs and numerous universities and research institutions belong.
The Knowledge Cluster Initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is building close alliances through such efforts as holding joint presentations of the outcomes of knowledge and industrial clusters and organizing joint working groups. |
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The area along the Chuo Expressway between Okaya and Suwa in Nagano Prefecture through to Yamanashi Prefecture is a major center for precision equipment manufacturers, and this area provides the precision devices used in cutting-edge industrial fields such as electronics and IT equipment.
In order to maximize the potential of these industrial concentrations, we are utilizing networks of industrial support organizations, bolstering regional company and university collaboration, supporting company R&D efforts, and supporting the development of product sales channels in our work to support technologically strong companies and help form a cluster.
We are currently deepening our tie-ups with other industrial clusters, international groups such as the DTF research meetings, and the Knowledge Cluster Initiative, and by thus promoting innovation and helping create new industries, we aim to aid the development of smart devices and the formation of a manufacturing base for these. |
| Toshio Imai |
Cluster Manager
Director General of Suwa Techno Lakeside Regional Center, Nagano Techno Foundation |
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| Number of new businesses launched(Results of FY 2001 to 2007): |
about 3,000 |
| Number of adoption for the proposal of technological development activities (Only METI measure): |
about 50 (FY 2004 to 2008) |
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| Number of new businesses launched: 1,000 businesses in 5 years |
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Main Participants of the Project
Private companies: Nomura Unison Co.,Ltd., Misuzu Industries Corporation, Takashima Sangyo Corporatoin, Daiya Seiki Co.,Ltd., Mikuni Kogyo Co.,Ltd., Hiraide Precision Co.,Ltd., Nakaya Seisakusho Co.,Ltd., Katoh Co.,Ltd., Sanyo Seiko Ltd., Crystal Coat Inc., etc.
Universities and public examination and research institutes: Shinshu University, Tokyo University of Science SUWA, University of Yamanashi, Nagano Prefecture General Industrial Technology Center, Yamanashi Industrial Technology Center, etc. |
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| ACHIEVEMENT EXAMPLE 1 |
In-clothing thermometer developed by women, leveraging networks (AREC) |
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AREC Plaza, operated by the Ueda Textile Science Foundation and AREC, is comprised of over 180 companies, mainly regional manufacturers. AREC Plaza member company QOL has developed its Ran's Night in-clothing thermometer that measures the in-clothing temperature during sleep at set intervals, and is capable of discerning the rhythms of a woman's body. This product is now being sold.
The company availed itself of the industry-university-government exchanges offered by AREC Plaza and has partnered with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) to start, extending collaboration to other companies and universities, and is now in a business partnership with Morishita Jintan Co., Ltd., a company with a long history in thermometer development.
The Ran's Night product won awards including the Kids Design grand prize in 2008 (Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award) and the FY 2008 SME Excellent New Technology / New Product outstanding performance award. QOL is currently offering a service whereby customers can use the camera in a mobile phone to read the QR code displayed after temperature measurement, sending the data to the company's Ran's Story website where experts offer members their advice, and income from thermometer sales and website membership is projected at 100 million yen for FY 7/2009.
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In-clothing thermometer, Ran's Night |
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Participating company comment: Masako Miyajima CEO, QOL Corporation
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In addition to getting meetings with university researchers coordinated at the basic research level, we were also supported at many other stages of commercialization, from patent applications through to getting advice on selecting R&D subsidies and gaining opportunities to present our product.
I really think that joining AREC at the beginning stages was a factor in our success.
QOL Corporation http://www.QOL21.com/ |
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| ACHIEVEMENT EXAMPLE 2 |
Supporting sales channel development via the Suwa Area Industrial Messe (trade fair)
(NPO Suwa Region Monodukuri Promotion Organization) |
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The Suwa Area Industrial Messe (trade fair) is the first wide-area initiative extending beyond the scope of traditional governmental projects. The fair covers the whole Suwa region, and has been held every year since 2002. 170 companies operated 230 booths the first year, and this had grown to 262 companies and 465 booths by 2008. The fair attracted some 27,500 visitors, making it the biggest such industrial exhibition fair in the region.
With the theme of expanding sales networks by leveraging trade fairs, the Suwa Area Industrial Messe supports exhibition design for companies running booths and helps bolster sales activities (such as through the Business Support Project, which makes use of company veterans), with very high success rates with some 70% of exhibiting companies holding business talks and each exhibiting company talking with an average of 7.8 other companies. |
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Suwa Area Industrial Messe 2008 |
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Participating company comment: Masaaki Matsuzawa CEO, Matsuichi Co., Ltd.
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Our company has been undertaking prototype development for major manufacturers and academic institutions thanks to our precision 3-D cutting of difficult-to-cut and fragile materials, and we have also been receiving requests for R&D part and prototype creation from national research institutions, and adding additional ideas during the design process or to the parts themselves is helping us to bring in new customers and keep old customers coming back.
The strength of the Suwa Area Industrial Messe is that it is the biggest industrial fair in the region, and with the major automobile and electrical machinery companies attending, it is much easier to get in touch and proceed through to business talks with companies that are usually very difficult to contact. We have also benefited from the effective support of the Suwa Region Monodukuri Promotion Organization coordinators and others, such as in learning how to make our exhibit more appealing, or in how to keep on track from exchanging business cards all the way through to business talks.
Matsuichi Co., Ltd. http://www.matsu-ichi.co.jp
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| ACHIEVEMENT EXAMPLE 3 |
Developing a device to evaluate the wettability of lead-free solder paste
(NPO Monodukuri Support Organization) |
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The NPO Monodukuri Support Organization is operating an office for the evaluative technology research group, one of the 11 research groups composed of member companies, which was the group to start this project after various discussions,
Using this organization's cluster manager network, a joint research group was formed from Gunma University, industrial technology centers, and AIST, among others. Upon selection of a strategic fundamental technology advancement support project, the organization is proceeding with R&D work. The basic policy of the organization is to offer one-stop services and comprehensive support, from identifying issues and how to solve them, through to how best to find and combine the technological seeds for doing so. Working on R&D together with project participants led to the expected progress, all the way to preparing for patent applications in April 2009. Future plans include R&D to produce a device more suited to actual use, and given efforts to be more environmentally friendly in recent years, many different industries are interested in a commercially usable version of the product. |
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Device to evaluate the wettability of lead-free solder paste (experimental) |
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Participating company comment: Futoshi Shirakawa
Executive director, Sanyo Seiko Co., Ltd. |
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The collaboration support for creation and development in new fields that we gained from this project led to steady R&D results in a short period of time, and progress is on track to commercialization, which is the ultimate goal of the project. Another aspect of the achievements of this project is the effectiveness in reaching the patent application stage during the R&D period.
Over the next FY, we plan to bring our solder wettability evaluation device currently under development to the commercial stage, introduce new products to the industry, and launch them on the market. Keep an eye on us.
Sanyo Seiko Co., Ltd. http://www.sanyoseiko.co.jp/ |
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| Secretariat: NPO Monodukuri Support Organization TEL: +81-555-23-4780
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