Keio University has six main campuses for education and research in the Tokyo area, and has two town campuses mainly for research in the cities of Shin-Kawasaki and Tsuruoka. In the 2016 academic year a new town campus was added in Tonomachi, Kawasaki City. Each of these town campuses pursues research activities in its own characteristic style, as well as educational activities targeted to graduated students and working adult students, thereby also contributing to human resource cultivation. Shin-Kawasaki (K² =K-squared) Town Campus, which is home to Shin-Kawasaki Sozo no Mori, was established in 2000 by Keio University in partnership with Kawasaki City, as a "frontier research and education collaborative square. " K² is promoting state-of-the-art research and educational activities as a hub for industry-academia-government collaboration. Its ongoing mission is to develop multiple businesses geared towards "creating new industries and new business" and "contributing to communities and society as a whole."
The aim of the campus is to bring together academic researchers and graduate students from Keio's six main campuses to participate in each other's research projects, fusion-style, and a unique culture is being fostered. Collaborations with the neighboring Kawasaki Business Incubation Center (KBIC) and 4 Universities Nano/Micro Fabrication Consortium (NANOBIC) - jointly operated with The University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Waseda University are also continuing. In the Sozo no Mori district, the preparation of facilities to enable R&D with wet processes is steadily advancing. Some of the projects currently being pursued at K² deal with haptic communication, optical networks, environmental initiatives and medical advances for "smart societies," and Technology Computer Aided Design (TCAD) to contribute to development of the semiconductor industry in accordance with medium-term plans, and these are generating substantial R&D. Also, a new TCAD（Technology Computer Aided Design）development project is being added last academic year. Keio University has a strong record of engaging actively in joint research projects with both Japanese and international universities and companies. Now it is utilizing this wealth of accumulated experience to establish a center for joint research with companies and enterprises and to expand its research partnerships with overseas universities and research bodies. Looking to the future, K² is intent on promoting research and technology development through collaboration between researchers from outside research institutes, private companies, and Keio's researchers and students. At the same time, we want to create added value, as a collaborative square for a new style of research and higher education in which some of the outside researchers gathered here will serve as vice supervisors to graduate students. We are expecting to see very significant development in the near future.
Masayuki Amagai
Vice-President, Keio University
