A world-class academic city driving innovation in biotech, medicine, and deep-science research.
Kyoto City is known as a university town, with 150,000 university students and 36 universities. It is also an academic city where innovative research in the life sciences continues to advance, as evidenced by three researchers affiliated with Kyoto University winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in recent years.
Physiology/Medicine Nobel Prize Laureates:
| Shinya Yamanaka | iPS cells (2012) |
| Tasuku Honjo | Immune checkpoint inhibitors (2018) |
| Shimon Sakaguchi | Regulatory T cells (2025) |
There is also a strong movement to implement the research knowledge of these universities in society. Researchers, companies, financial institutions, support organizations, and other diverse entities are collaborating to develop new medical devices and pharmaceuticals, and to create and support the growth of university-based startups.