0bjectives and Priority Measures
The necessity for Fukushima's industry today is to raise the technological level of local enterprises, develop leading-edge technology that produces high addedvalue products, and nurture R & D-oriented industries.
Accordingly, the prefectural government provides technical assistance and support of R & D activities for small businesses mainly through the newly established "High-Tech Plaza" in Koriyama. The government is also promoting the Koriyama Area "Technopolis" Development Project, which seeks to productively blend hightech industry, academic research institutions and comfortable housing and leisure facilities. As part of the project, development of an industrial complex and a new town, as well as the renovation of parks around Fukushima Airport, is under way. The opening of Fukushima Airport is expected to further spur the development not only of leading-edge high-tech industry, but also the growth of existing local industries.
"High-Tech Plaza," a research institution founded in Koriyama in 1992, is the centerpiece of the government's efforts to raise the technological level of local small and medium-sized enterprises and nurture the R & D sector of local industry. "High-Tech Plaza" has been provided with the prefecture's most advanced facilities, which are open to local enterprises. At the plaza, specialists from universities and research institutions from both inside and outside the prefecture provide technical assistance. The plaza's activities are vital to technical assistance centers in Fukushima, Iwaki and Aizu-Wakamatsu cities.

Newly built electric wave
measuring room at High-Tech
Plaza in Koriyama.

Prefectural Industry by Region

Hama-dori
The Hama-dori region, particularly the coast, is the center of the prefecture's heavy and chemical industries, and the local electric power industry is one of the nation's largest suppliers of electricity. An industrial complex project now under development in and around the port of Soma will expand the harbor facilities and construct a thermal power station. The construction of the Joban Expressway, which will link Tokyo with the region, is also progressing smoothly. With the completion of these infrastructure projects, the potential for the region's further development promises to grow ever more favorable.

Naka-dori
The Naka-dori region, which is linked with Tokyo by a rapid transportation network that includes the Tohoku Expressway and the Tohoku Shinkansen bullet train, possesses the prefecture's most advanced industrial base. Electronics manufacturers are particularly well-represented, and more than half of the prefecture's foreign enterprises are located here. Industrial complexes are being completed throughout the region to attract more advanced high-tech industry, including R & D-oriented industry, to Fukushima. The proximity to Fukushima Airport makes the region's growth potential the most promising in the prefecture.

One of the many foreign
enterprises in Fukushima

Aizu
The Aizu region, blessed with abundant water and forests. has long served as the base for such traditional industries as woodworking and lacquerware production. The region is also home to one of Japan's largest sake-brewing industries, which takes full advantage of the high-quality rice and pure water of the area. With the opening of the University of Aizu and the Ban'etsu Expressway, the region anticipates vigorous development.

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