General Manager, Office of Intellectual Property (SEED)
Support for Start-up and Venture Businesses by the University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo's Science Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) office for supporting venture businesses has moved from the planning to the implementation stage, and visible results are now being returned to society. The first stage consisted of establishing the tripartite system of the Division of University Corporate Relations, TODAI TLO, Ltd. (CASTI), and the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Co., Ltd. (UTEC) in order to build support for venture businesses. The second stage consisted of procuring a facility equipped to support "wet laboratories" for venture businesses in the bioscience field (the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza).
We have finally arrived at the stage of implementing activities designed to accelerate creative innovation. Even without making reference to case studies in Europe and the United States, it is clear that universities and venture businesses originating in academic institutions have initiated social change and have given birth to new industries. It is the mission of the University of Tokyo to lead the way in such endeavors.
Our motto is: "Commitment to Innovation."
"The Entrepreneur DOJO" - An Educational Course on Entrepreneurship
As a student or researcher, have you ever wondered whether an idea or the results of your research could be commercialized? Have you ever wondered about what you had to do to make this a reality? Perhaps many questions along these lines have crossed your mind.
The University of Tokyo Entrepreneur DOJO is a unique educational program where you can learn how to commercialize your ideas and any intellectual property resulting from your research, including inventions.
Why not visit the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur DOJO and cultivate your entrepreneurial spirit?
"The University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza" - Incubation Assistance
The Entrepreneur Plaza is looking for private companies that need support from the University!
The University of Tokyo opened its Entrepreneur Plaza on the Hongo Campus in June 2007. The Entrepreneur Plaza aims to provide effective support to venture businesses that are instrumental in one of the most important missions of the University: to make research results useful to society. The new facility is equipped with wet laboratories to meet the increasing demands of life-science-related venture businesses originating from the University. For the opening of this new facility, we are currently recruiting venture businesses that have the credentials to receive support from the Division of University Corporate Relations.
If you are interested, please read the pamphlet "Introduction to the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza" and contact our staff for further details.
The Importance of the Entrepreneur Plaza within the University of Tokyo
Under the National University Corporation Law Article 22 Clause 5 and according to the preface of the Charter of the University of Tokyo, an important mission of the University is to return the fruit of its research to society. One way to accomplish this mission is to ensure that our intellectual property, including our patents, is put to practical use. With regard to this, the University of Tokyo Intellectual Properties Policy 4. (2) asserts the importance of promoting the practical application of inventions and other intellectual property that comprise the University's proprietary assets.
The policy states: "As one measure to return the fruit of intellectual creativity to society, the University should proactively be involved in using start-up businesses to commercialize inventions." Maintaining a positive environment for supporting start-ups is one of the tasks assigned to the University of Tokyo.
The support provided for venture businesses at the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza is one of the university-wide services provided by the Division of University Corporate Relations to create a positive environment for newly-created businesses. The construction of the University of Tokyo Entrepreneur Plaza has been made possible by a charitable contributor.
Message from the General Manager
The Office of Science Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) supports start-up and venture businesses that seek to commercialize and practically apply results of University research. Supporting start-up businesses is a major pillar of the Division of University Corporate Relations.
The University of Tokyo Intellectual Property Policy contains the basic guidelines for organizational management of intellectual property and promotes the practical use of inventions that are the University's proprietary assets. According to that policy, "The University of Tokyo will endeavor to cause the proliferation of practical University inventions and innovations in society in cooperation with patent application partners and other external organizations, including TLOs.... The University will also proactively capitalize on university start-ups as one way to commercialize inventions and expedite making the results of intellectual creations useful to society. The University will cooperate with ‘a technology-transfer-related corporation (Note: this refers to the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Co., Ltd. [UTEC])’ to support start-up businesses."
We have already taken practical steps to support start-up businesses. In April 2004, the University was incorporated, and, at the same time, the University of Tokyo Edge Capital Co., Ltd. (UTEC), was established to manage venture capital funds for the University of Tokyo. The objective of establishing UTEC was to provide support to university start-ups with regard to funding and human resources. Our efforts to invest in venture businesses are already underway, with the first round of venture capital funding (the UTEC Fund) having already been launched successfully with capital of more than 8.3 billion JPY from 23 Limited Partners (LPs) and UTEC, the General Partner (GP).
Shigeo Kagami
Professor, the University of Tokyo
General Manager, Office of Science Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development
