Mizuno, Shigekata

Mr. Shigekata Mizuno is the Executive Adviser of Kyoto Research Park Corp.

He is supervising international cooperation and collaboration with local governments from 2021 April.

Mr. Mizuno was born in Osaka on 1960.

He joined Osaka Gas Co, Ltd, in 1984 after graduating from the department of architectural engineering at Osaka University.

He was in charge of establishing KRP Corp, as a subsidiary of Osaka gas Co, Ltd and worked at KRP from 1986 to 1999 to take charge of planning and development of the site and business.

After experiencing several positions at Osaka Gas Co, Ltd., he returned to KRP in 2013 as the managing director, he was in charge of startup support, academia-industry collaboration, international cooperation and collaboration with local governments.

Mr. Mizuno is teaching Entrepreneurship at Ritsumeikan University Business Scholl as a Part-time Lecturers from 2020.

KRP has grown into a district of 18 buildings on 59,000 square meters of the site, where 6,400 workers with 500 companies in various kinds of industries, such as ICT, healthcare, biotechnology, and machinery are working.

KRP offers a variety of facilities, including wet labs for chemical and biological experiments, offices of various types, service offices with secretaries and lounges, and conference facilities of different sizes. The operations of these facilities are supported by an energy system with gas cogeneration and an area management system.

In addition, technical and business support organizations of Kyoto Prefecture and City are located in KRP site, and they are engaged in R&D and technical support for small and medium-sized enterprises in Kyoto.

KRP had been establishing a support system for startups, together with universities, venture capitalists, and accelerators, in order to produce international startups. In the Kyoto’s startup ecosystem, KRP is working on various programs such as pitch contests and acceleration programs for the startups to connect them to the global business field.