Greater Nagoya's Largest IT Cluster

Area Information

Location: In the geographic center of Japan, 40km from Nagoya and 350km from Tokyo.; Northwestern area of Nobi Plains and at the center of West Mino.

Access: 30 minutes from Nagoya, 2 hours 10 minutes to Tokyo, and 1 hour 10 minutes to Osaka.; 1 hour 30 minutes to Centrair.

Infrastructure: Ogaki Interchange on the Meishin Expressway provides excellent access to Tokyo, Kansai, Hokuriku and of course Greater Nagoya.; In order to promote broadband business, the prefecture opened its optical fiber network to the public free of charge, allowing inexpensive internet usage.

Economy & Industry: Value of manufactured products shipped ranks No. 2 in Gifu Prefecture.; Primary industries are electronic parts and auto parts. The city also houses the following industrial clusters: information services, formed and fabricated materials, glass and coal, processed foods, and chemicals.; Softopia Japan, an IT-related industrial site, houses 140 companies and 1900 people, ranging from leading established global leaders to local venture enterprises.; Softopia Japan meets a wide variety of business needs by offering three options: acquiring land or a long-term lease, entering a R&D facility, or entering an international incubation center.; De-regulation allows Softopia Japan to offer faster entry into Japan for overseas researchers, a stipend to pay for a portion (maximum 27,000 yen) of an overseas researcher's rent, and land may now be leased as well as acquired.

Life and Culture: Site of the famous "Battle of Sekigahara," a historic event that permanently impacted Japanese history. Ogaki castle is among the city's may historical sites.; Ogaki is called the "Water City" for its pure underground streams.; The final destination of poet Matsuo Basho's trip described in "Oku no Hosomichi." Haiku is a strong part of the culture, and haiku-lovers from around the nation gather to Ogaki.

Softopia Japan

Ogaki Matsuri (Ogaki Festival)

Important Industries:: Electronic parts, Auto parts, Cast metals, Glass and coal, Processed foods, Information services

Primary Players:: Ibiden Co. Ltd., Pacific Industrial Co., Marujun Co., Microsoft Co., NTT Communications, Fujitsu Co., Yahoo Japan Co., Broad Band Tower Inc.

Universities and Research Facilities:: Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS), Ogaki Women's College, Gifu Keizai University

Corporate Enticement Projects: Aid in establishing firms, call centers, and data center facilities.

The "Business Incubation Forum" supports the development of new products and projects by providing information and encouraging joint R&D collaboration through industry-academia-government cooperation.
The "Sweet Valley Project" will make the area an IT and contents-business cluster as well as an information value world leader.
Not only does Ogaki have an advantageous geographical location, information and IT networks necessary in modern business are well in place.
1,000 tons per day of 14 degree (centigrade) can be lifted from underwater springs throughout the year.