Regional Information Kobe city

In the second phase of the Port Island project, the city is developing a cutting-edge medical research base on the artificial island off the city's coast. The government is working with businesses and universities in the Kansai area to create a town with a high concentration of medical-technology companies. Companies, research institutions, and universities in the area of life sciences have accumulated in the area, forming one of the biggest biomedical clusters in Japan.

The Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster project, a accumulation of research and development base of the leading edge technologies of the advanced medicine, build on the reclaimed land of Second Phase of Port Island off Kobe Port, has been underway since 1998 as part of an effort to rebuild the city after the major earthquake that hit the Hanshin area. There are research facilities, including the Foundation for Biomedical Research and Innovation, the Translational Research Informatics Center, the Riken Center for Developmental Biology, and the Super Computer K (RIKEN AICS). The world's leading research institutions, such as those that study regenerative medicine, as well as major corporations are establishing research bases in the city, (As of Ocotber 31, 2016, there were 327 companies and groups related to medicine), 7,000 researchers are engaged in research and development.