KBIOHealth nestles in Japanese bio cluster for closer bilateral cooperation

KBIOHealth (Osong Medical Innovation Foundation) has set up an office in Japan, raising expectations of cooperation between the two countries’ biotech industries.

KBIOHealth said it opened an office (KBIOHealth JAPAN Office) in Shonan iPark, located in Kanagawa Prefecture, and held a signboard-hanging ceremony on Tuesday.

Officials from KBIOHealth and Shonan iPark cut a ribbon on Tuesday after hanging the signboard of the KBIOHealth JAPAN Office in Shonan I-Park in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

The opening of the Japan office was in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed between KBIOHealth and iPark Institute in January. This memorandum included exchanging professional staff, establishing a mutual liaison office, sharing internal seminars, cooperating in arranging speakers for special seminars, and other matters for mutual development.

In March, iPark opened its Korea office within KBIOHealth.

Shonan iPark is Japan's largest innovation cluster, created by global pharmaceutical giant Takeda. The company opened an in-house research facility in the Shonan area and operates an incubation program that provides funding, facilities, and know-how to university and venture companies with promising technologies for commercialization.

iPark Research Institute, which operates Shonan iPark, acquired the rights to operate Shonan iPark from Takeda in April last year. Its major shareholders include the Japan Industrial Infrastructure Fund Investment Corporation (IIF), Takeda, and Mitsubishi Corp.

Shonan iPark is modeled after Lab Central, a successful global open innovation model in the U.S., and aims to build an Asian open innovation model that reflects the cultural and social differences between the U.S. and Asia. As of February, 111 companies have moved into Shonan IPark.

KBIOHealth plans to benchmark the Shonan iPark model by opening a technology commercialization center in January 2025. It differentiates itself as an open innovation space that supports corporate growth and promotes collaboration among companies with various programs beyond just leasing support.

KBIOHealth explained that in preparation for the opening of the Japanese branch, it conducted a short-term personnel exchange with iPark Research Institute to share mutual status and plans and to refine future cooperation methods. The exchange was accompanied by Ipsel, a Korean company specializing in researching and developing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).

"With the establishment of the KBIOHealth JAPAN Office, the foundation for full-scale cooperation between Korea and Japan has been laid, and we expect that various collaborations, such as discovery, consulting, education, and services for companies wishing to enter Korea and Japan will be realized," KBIOHealth Chairman Cha Sang-hoon said,