Business Expanding French Agri-Food Innovation Cluster VITAGORA Opens Representative Office in Kumamoto Prefecture

VITAGORA has a long track record of partnerships with Kyushu Bio Cluster Conference (KBCC) in Kumamoto. For example, their relation begins in 2010 when KBCC visited VITAGORA in France, and then again in 2013 as part of JETRO’s Regional Industry Tie-Up Program, "Kyushu Region with a focus on Kumamoto Prefecture - Burgundy Region, France: Preliminary Study on Functional Food (Agriculture and Livestock Products) Development". As the cluster’s first overseas base, VITAGORA’s Japan Office was opened in the Industrial Support Division of the Kumamoto Prefectural Government in October 2020. The Japan Office aims to promote the exchange of technologies and companies related to agri-food industries not only in France and Kyushu but also in other parts of Japan, and to create new innovations through this exchange.

The Japan Office is actively involved in supporting the overseas development of Japanese companies as well, such as participating as a cooperating organization in the "Project to Strengthen Kyushu's Processed Food Exports Reflecting French Food Tastes and Preferences," a project subsidized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and implemented by Kumamoto Industrial Support Foundation in FY2021.

On the occasion of the establishment of VITAGORA's representative office, JETRO's Invest Japan Business Support Center (IBSC) provided market information.