The University of Tokyo Co-operative Platform Development Corporation will open their academia-related start-up support campus, called ‘1stRound BASE in GROWTH Bunkyo-Iidabashi,’ in June 2024. The new facility will serve as a community base that will support start-ups in establishing and growing their businesses, and will offer access to Japan's largest entrepreneurship support program '1stRound,' and human resources support program 'DeepTech Dive' — both jointly organized by 17 universities including the University of Tokyo and two national research institutions.

The University of Tokyo IPC previously opened the university-related start-up community ‘1stRound BASE’ and ‘1stRound BASE in Todai HiRAKU GATE’ in October 2023.

The area around GROWTH Bunkyo-Iidabashi is home to a concentration of education institutions such as the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and Tokyo University of Science, and will play an important role as an incubation office to promote open innovation.

The facility has a set-up office that serves as an activity base for start-ups, a co-working lounge that encourages interaction, and an event space. Regular pitch events, seminars, sessions and get-togethers are planned, creating a place to meet and interact with large companies and venture capitalists.

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