LabCentral Partners with Shonan iPark to Offer New Cambridge-Based Educational Program for Japanese Life Sciences Entrepreneurs

LabCentral to Welcome Selected Shonan iPark Startups
for three-month Cambridge Residency

FUJISAWA, Japan and Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Shonan Health Innovation Park (Shonan iPark), Japan's first  pharmaceutical-initiated science park, and LabCentral, the premier Massachusetts-based network of coworking labs designed to accelerate high-potential biotech startups, today announced a new partnership to support Asian startups from the Shonan iPark network and provide a gateway to the Greater Boston biotech ecosystem.  

This innovation partnership offers selected startup teams from the Shonan iPark network a three-month program at LabCentral in the heart of Kendall Square, Cambridge. Participants will be hosted by LabCentral and engage in executive educational programming focused on life sciences entrepreneurship. They will have the opportunity to learn from and connect with peer startups, 70+ sponsor organizations, and the broader LabCentral innovation community.  Participants can join workshops, seminars, and networking events designed to support their commercialization journeys and to foster connections with pharma partners, investors, mentors, experts, and talent.

Beyond this program LabCentral, companies will also be introduced to the greater Kendall Square ecosystem, where they will gain insights to help sharpen their business strategies and to better understand the United States market. One company will be awarded the chance to participate in a specialized 6-week mentoring program, as well.

LabCentral and Shonan iPark will also partner on the Shonan Health Innovation Conference (SHIC) 2025, the second annual Shonan iPark conference connecting Shonan iPark startups with partners and investors in Cambridge.

Regarding the innovation partnership, iPark Institute President and CEO Toshio Fujimoto commented:

"Shonan iPark is pleased to partner with LabCentral, which has created a strong network to support early-stage life sciences companies in Kendall Square. This collaboration will create new opportunities for participating companies and supports our mission of further enhancing Japan's drug discovery ecosystem."

Regarding the innovation partnership, LabCentral CEO, Maggie O'Toole commented:

"We are honored to partner with Shonan iPark to host their startups here in Cambridge. Shonan iPark continues to be a catalyst for innovation in Japan and together we can help therapies and treatments move from the laboratory to the patient."

About iPark Institute Co., Ltd.
iPark Institute Co., Ltd. was established in 2023 with Industrial & Infrastructure Fund Investment Corporation (IIF), Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda), and Mitsubishi Corporation as major shareholders. It took over the management of Shonan Health Innovation Park (Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture) in 2023, which Takeda has been responsible for since 2018. For more information about our company, please click here.

About Shonan Health Innovation Park (Shonan iPark)
Shonan iPark is Japan's first pharmaceutical-initiated science park, created by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited in April 2018 by opening its own research laboratories to the outside world. Currently operated by iPark Institute Co., Ltd. independent of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, the park aims to become a place where industry, government, and academia from a wide range of industries and sizes can come together to accelerate health innovation. Currently, the ecosystem is comprised of not only pharmaceutical companies, but also companies and organizations in next generation medicine, cellular agriculture, AI, and government, with approximately 190 companies and more than 2,500 people (as of September 2025).

About LabCentral  
A private, non-profit institution, LabCentral is a launchpad for high-potential life-sciences and biotech start-ups with more than 200,000 square feet of space across Kendall Square in Cambridge, Mass., and the Harvard University campus. Founded in 2013, LabCentral offers a full complement of programming and networking to life sciences entrepreneurs in addition to fully permitted laboratory and office space for early-stage and growing life sciences companies. In its first eleven years, LabCentral residents raised more than $20 billion in funding and created more than 7,000 jobs.  More information is available at www.labcentral.org.

SOURCE LabCentral