Japan-based electrical component producer Sumitomo Electric Industries and telecommunications company KDDI committed money to a $42m fund aimed at robotics startups yesterday.
The Keihanna ATR fund was established by Japanese research organisation Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International and venture capital firm Nippon Venture Capital.
Financial services providers Shinsei Bank and Kyoto Bank also contributed capital to the fund.
Keihanna ATR will support startups in the Kansai region – the second largest urban area after Tokyo and pictured above in dark green – that focus on three distinct areas of robotics: brain information science, such as brain-computer interfaces), life support robots to assist elderly people, and wireless power.
The fund is the country’s largest affiliated with a single research institute.
– Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons