YRP ... Yokosuka Research Park

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/03/28/business/research-park-offers-high-tech-surrounded-nature/#.XhHaukczaUl

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Birds chirp under blue skies as luscious greenery stretches beyond. Researchers in white lab coats walk to and from the uncluttered chic and modern buildings. This is the natural and clean environment the Yokosuka Research Park (YRP) offers its tenants conducting business there.

Measuring a vast 58 hectares, YRP was originally home to a laboratory of the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (the current Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, or NTT). After NTT left the site, the city of Yokosuka decided to court high-tech corporations specializing in information and telecommunications technology to the area. “Since our company owned the land, we cooperated with the city on the YRP project. Opened in 1997, we have worked very closely with the city to develop and promote this site,” explained Masaru Saito, deputy department chief of the Project Planning Department, Development and Administration of Facilities Headquarters of Keihin Electric Express Railway Co.

Originally functioning as the R&D hub for information and telecommunications technology-related corporations, YRP was eventually settled by various other industries. “This is because technological development, especially the evolution and progress of Internet technology, no longer required telecom corporations to operate in geographical proximity. As a result, several of those companies spread out. YRP now serves as home to 60 companies from various industries, while the number of people working there now stands at about 4,000,” said Saito.

Major tenants at YRP include NTT Docomo, the subsidiary of NTT and Japan’s largest mobile communications company; NEC Corporation, one of the leading electric-appliance makers in Japan; Denso Corporation, an automobile parts manufacturer; KDDI Corporation, a top telecommunications operator in Japan; Fujitsu Ltd., a general electronics maker-cum-IT vendor; Alpha Systems Inc., a Japanese independent system integrator; Yazaki Corporation, an auto parts, gas equipment, electric wire, optical fiber, air conditioner, solar equipment and household equipment maker; Nifco Inc., a leading industrial plastic fastener and precision parts maker; as well as the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology.

A new addition at YRP in 2015 was Air Liquide Japan, a French company that is a world leader in gases, technologies and services for various industries, especially in the health arena. “We are proud that Air Liquide Japan chose YRP from the four candidate sites near Tokyo they had in mind,” said Saito. One strong point of appeal YRP offered the French company was undoubtedly its excellent natural setting. Furthermore, YRP’s accumulation of telecom industries as well as the “Internet of Things” (IoT), which is a mutually controlled framework of things connected over the Internet or cloud system, know-how was also highly attractive. On top of that, YRP’s convenience store and hotel, as well as its lineup of restaurants serving casual, French and Japanese dishes, turned out to be other points in YRP’s favor. Because companies have visitors coming to them all the time from around Japan and abroad, dining and lodging facilities are very crucial factors that are of concern to any tenants operating at YRP. “Offering proper food and comfortable accommodation to those guests could turn out to be very costly,” noted Saito. In fact, Saito says that he has received many favorable comments from the companies at YRP, since they do not have to worry about finding food or lodging.

Another infrastructural advantage of YRP is its easy access and proximity to the train station. “It’s only a seven-minute bus ride from YRP Nobi Station and it’s only about an hour from Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station. Furthermore, it’s only an hour by train from Haneda Airport,” said Saito. Additionally, since his company operates all the buses to and from YRP, as well as YRP Nobi Station and the trains, Saito said, “We go as far as running additional commuter buses from YRP to the station on the “No Zangyo (overtime) Days” of the NTT-affiliated companies located there.”

In order to make YRP a more comfortable place to work, Saito’s company also sponsors information exchange meetings several times a year, as well as a name card exchange party for the staff of different companies at the beginning of the year. Saito points out that “such occasions allow the researchers to get acquainted with each other and exchange interesting ideas.” He finds such meetings meaningful, as they could well turn into new ventures. Concurrently, Keihin Electric Express Railway collaborates closely with Yokosuka to attract more companies to operate at YRP. “Yokosuka is also very flexible in altering its city plans for YRP, to make the site more appealing for other potential tenants,” he noted.

Furthermore, to raise the overall awareness of nearby residents and nurture a more favorable global image of YRP, Yokosuka has been holding classes every summer at YRP. “This is done by acquiring help from YRP business operators and bringing over prominent British tutors to teach local junior and senior high school students. Accumulating teaching know-how through such action, Yokosuka seeks to ultimately start a new international school by 2020,” explained Saito.

YRP itself seeks to nurture a globally open innovative environment toward a future that contributes to expand YRP’s business scope and solve social issues. The main body for promoting such action is the YRP R&D Promotion Committee that has a membership total of over 160 companies from Japan and overseas. The members are specialists in telecommunications and broadcasting, as well as manufacturers in related fields, research institutions and government organizations. “The committee endeavors to concentrate R&D institutions at YRP and advance R&D in radio and information communication technologies,” said Saito. The current action plan of the committee drawn up according to its fourth Five-Year Vision (FY2012 — FY2017) calls for providing an environment for R&D and experimentation in optical and wireless communications and contribute to the development of advanced info-communication technologies and services. Additionally, the vision looks to support the global expansion movement for info-communication industries, while generating a synergistic effect by enforcing collaboration with enterprises, institutes, the local community and others.

A lush natural environment and state-of-the-art working environment, as well as the infrastructural support of the Keihin Electric Express Railway and Yokosuka are the strengths of YRP. Such features make YRP an ideal R&D and business hub for Japanese and foreign enterprises working on wireless communication technologies, optical communication technologies, big data and beyond. “Together with Yokosuka, Keihin Electric Express Railway looks forward to YRP formulating more outstanding projects and developing the relevant environment that contribute to society and future industrial growth of the area,” Saito concluded.