Foodα X TOKYO
Cluste constituent company
Focused industry
Food Tech/Well Being
Examples: sustainable food, well-being, longevity, resource circulation, etc.
About Clusters
cluster overview
Companies working together to solve social challenges in the food sector, accelerating food innovation through city as real-world demonstration fields and consumer touchpoints. The cluster aims to foster new industries in sustainable food and well-being, and drive global expansion starting from Tokyo.
Outline of Initiatives
In the Shinbashi and Toranomon area, five organizations — the Urban Renaissance Agency (UR), Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., Sustainable Food Asia Co., Ltd., UnlocX Co., Ltd., and Nippon Steel Kowa Real Estate Co., Ltd. — have led the “Foodα” initiative to accelerate food innovation through city-wide collaboration.
These five organizations now serve as the core operating office, working in partnership with domestic food companies such as Ikeda Tohka Industries Co., Ltd., Otsuka Food Co., Ltd., Yoshinoya Co., Ltd., and Rohto Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., as well as legal and intellectual property experts from Uchida & Samejima Law Firm.
Together, they aim to accelerate the testing and dissemination of new food-related technologies and services that address social issues, using Tokyo’s urban setting as a demonstration field. The ultimate goal is to promote global expansion of these innovations as a new industry.
Targeted startups are those offering products in the sustainable food and well-being sectors, including biodiversity, resource conservation, health access, social responsibility, and resource circulation.
Startup support content
Policy for collaboration with startups
With the theme of “food,” an essential element of daily life, we support startups that contribute to solving social issues such as the conservation of the global environment and natural resources.
Our support includes:Matching with large companies, Hands-on support for collaborative projects, Demonstration and hypothesis testing in public urban spaces, Providing funding for social implementation, and Direct support for overseas expansion through a broad international network.
Details of initiatives related to collaboration with startups
- Selecting startups using existing platforms and matching them with large companies
- Providing hands-on support for collaborative projects aimed at generating outcomes such as social implementation
- Supporting demonstration and hypothesis testing in real urban settings (“machinaka”) and offering funding for implementation (up to 3 million yen)
- Promoting projects and disseminating information both domestically and internationally
- Expanding collaboration to nearby areas and scaling efforts across Tokyo
- Driving global innovation through a strong international network
Details of initiatives related to collaboration with startups
Through this project, we aim to accelerate food innovation driven by community-wide collaboration and contribute from Tokyo to solving global social challenges.
The “city” serves as a real-world co-creation field that fosters creative activities among its people.
“Food,” being an essential and accessible part of daily life, allows everyone to engage as stakeholders. Advances in food-related technologies are closely tied to addressing major societal issues—such as improving health, preventing disease, enhancing nutrition, and conserving the environment and natural resources.
This project highlights the strong synergy between cities and food, supporting startups through community-based testing and collaboration.
Our goal is to build a system and ecosystem that accelerates the spread of technologies and services contributing to social impact and improved quality of life (QoL), centered on urban collaboration.
「Cluster constituent company」offering inforimation
Image of Cluster constituent company that wish to collaborate
- Having an interest in areas related to the future of food, such as food tech, sustainable food, well-being, longevity, and resource circulation
- Being a domestic or international company that can passionately work on globalizing Japanese food as a new industry
- Being a domestic or international company that is genuinely committed to creating innovation together with startups to co-create the future of food originating from Japan
「Startups」offering inforimation
Image of Startups that wish to collaborate
- Startups in fields related to the future of food, such as food tech, sustainable food, well-being, longevity, and resource circulation
- Startups interested in conducting PoC (proof of concept) in the City, urban environments and intending to implement their solutions within Tokyo
- Startups that are seriously committed to creating food innovation originating from Japan, and are aiming to expand globally to address challenges in the global food system
