The Umekita area is adjacent to JR Osaka Station, the largest transportation terminal in western Japan, and the Umeda area, with a high concentration of business and commercial functions, featuring the greatest location potential. The advance development area (Grand Front Osaka), which opened in 2013, has realized the accumulation of advanced urban functions, including business and commercial functions, represented by the Knowledge Capital, a base for the creation and exchange of knowledge.

The Osaka Station Surrounding Area Committee of the Osaka Station Area/Nakanoshima and Midosuji Area Urban Renaissance Emergency Development Council has formulated the urban development goal “A base with ‘MIDORI’ (greenery) and ‘innovation’ in harmony” (a center for the fusion of “MIDORI” (greenery) with unparalleled charm that attracts people from around the world and urban functions that create world-leading “innovation”). To achieve this goal, the Committee for Promoting the Formation of a Center for Fusion of Midori and Innovation at Umekita Second (hereinafter referred to as the “Promotion Committee”) has been established through public-private partnerships for the development of the Umekita 2nd Project area, which is about to open, and has worked on various activities, including pioneering initiatives aimed at creating innovation.

In order to realize the vision of the Umekita 2nd Project, which upholds “Life Design Innovation” as a theme for creating new industries, stronger industry-academia-government collaboration is required. Accordingly, the Umekita Future Innovation Organization (U-FINO) has been established, through public-private partnerships of the Kansai Economic Federation, the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, and Umekita Second Zone developers, as an organization that inherits knowledge and other things gained from the activities of the Promotion Committee and plays a central role in promoting the creation of innovation.

With the vision of establishing an ecosystem where new products, services, and businesses are created by bringing together information, people, technology, and other resources to the Umekita 2nd Project area to resolve social issues and create new industries, thereby promoting the creation of innovation in Osaka and the Kansai Region, U-FINO strives to connect various seeds and support resources and demonstrate the hub function that supports the commercialization of innovation, while sharing the networks, know-how, and other strengths of participating institutions, in order to enhance the ecosystem.

By collaborating with various initiatives, including those for the advance development area, through its activities, U-FINO contributes to the growth and development of the entire Umekita area as an innovation hub that will acquire new international competitiveness while promoting open innovation that transcends the boundaries of industry, academia, and government and contributing to creating new industries, promoting the attraction and exchange of international visitors, and developing human resources in the Kansai region as well as across Japan.

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• Name

  Umekita Future Innovation Organization

• Date Founded

  September 13, 2022

• Office

  Knowledge Capital 8th floor, Grand Front Osaka North Building, 3-1 Ofuka-cho, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-0011

• Purpose

  Establishing an ecosystem where new products, services, and businesses are created by bringing together information, people, technology, and other resources to the Umekita 2nd Project area to resolve social issues and create new industries, thereby promoting the creation of innovation in Osaka and the Kansai Region

• Main Activities

  Taking advantage of the strengths of the private and industrial sectors as well as the government, U-FINO promotes efforts to realize a hub for Osaka and the Kansai region as a single organization comprising the public and private sectors.

• Officers

  Representative Director Norio Nakazawa

  Director Souichiro Seki (Senior Managing Director, Kansai Economic Federation)

  Director Setsuo Iuchi (President, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

  Director Eijiro Obana (Director General, Osaka Urban Planning Bureau, Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City)

  Director Toyonori Takahashi (Senior Managing Executive Officer, ORIX Real Estate Corporation)

  Director Ryuichi Morotomi (Director, Hankyu Corporation)

  Auditor Takatsugu Abe (Managing Director and Secretary General, Kansai Economic Federation)

• Members

  Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd., Osaka Gas Urban Development Co., Ltd., Obayashi Corporation, ORIX Real Estate Corporation, Kanden Realty & Development Co., Ltd., Sekisui House, Ltd., Takenaka Corporation, Hankyu Corporation

Developed as a symbol mark with the motif “U,” which is the initial letter of the Umekita Future Innovation Organization. The four lines that make up the letter “U” express “business, academia, public, and citizen.” The rising lines give the impression that combining the four powers will create a place where innovation is born and that the innovation born there will not only liven up the region, but also spread globally. The firm and strong lines enhance the distinctiveness and uniqueness of U-FINO and also express the strong desire to take the lead in bringing about innovation in the Umekita 2nd Project area.