Innovation Kyoto 2016 Investment Limited Partnership ("KYOTO-ICAP No.1 Fund"), with Kyoto University Innovation Capital Corporation ("Kyoto iCAP") (Head Office: Sakyo-ku, Kyoto; Representative Director: Ko Kusumi) as unlimited liability partner, has made an additional investment in Kyoto Fusion Ring Co. ("KF") (Head office: Uji City, Kyoto Prefecture; Representative Director: Akira Nagao), a venture company that utilizes the results of research at Kyoto University.

Outline of this investment
KF is Japan's first fusion technology company, founded on research results developed by Professor Tetsuyuki Konishi of the Institute of Energy Science and Engineering, Kyoto University, with the aim of pioneering a new energy industry.
Fusion (*1) reactors, which generate clean and sustainable energy, are also called "the sun on earth," and world-leading research and development has been conducted in Japan. Currently, the construction of the "International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)" is underway in a seven-party international joint project in which Japan is also participating, with the aim of starting operation in 2025. At the same time, several venture companies have already been established in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and other countries with the aim of realizing fusion reactors at an earlier stage, and the development and construction of equipment for energy demonstration in the 2020s is accelerating.
KF will contribute to fundamental solutions to the world's energy and environmental problems by becoming an engineering company that supplies key equipment such as blankets, diverters, gyrotrons (*2), and plant designs for the multiple fusion reactor projects under development around the world. Fusion energy is a market that has the potential to grow significantly in the near future as a technology that can meet the exploding energy demand of developing countries while meeting the Paris Agreement's demand for reduced greenhouse gas emissions without generating high-level radioactive waste.
KF has been selected as an indirect subsidy recipient of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's FY2000 "Subsidy for Strengthening Nuclear Power Industry Base" and will receive a subsidy of 130 million yen, half of the total project cost of 270 million yen, for research and development of energy conversion equipment using Japanese nuclear technology and Kyoto University's research results. The subsidy will be provided for the following three items. In particular, the following three devices and systems centered on them will be targeted.
　High-power high-frequency heating equipment (gyrotron)
　Neutron energy converter (blanket)
　High heat flux radioactive gas exhaust system (divertor)
Kyoto iCAP has executed an additional investment of 150 million yen in recognition of the business foundation it has built to date, including its selection for a large national project, and in anticipation of its continued role as a Japanese pioneer in the fusion-related market.

*1: What is nuclear fusion?
Excerpted from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology website;https://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/shinkou/iter/019.htm

(1) What is a fusion reaction?
The nuclear fusion reaction is the principle by which the sun generates luminous energy, and the nuclear fusion research that is being conducted by bringing together the world's science and technology can be likened to "creating the sun on earth" research. For example, one gram of deuterium-tritium fuel can produce energy equivalent to that of a tanker truck full of oil (about 8 tons).

(2) Characteristics of fusion energy
Abundant resources: Lithium, the raw material for producing deuterium and tritium hydrogen as fuel, is abundant in the ocean, so there is no regional maldistribution and no fear of resource depletion. A vast amount of energy can be extracted from a small amount of fuel. Inherent safety: Fusion reactions do not run out of control, and safety measures are relatively easy to implement compared to fission. High environmental integrity: No carbon dioxide, a cause of global warming, is produced in the process of power generation. No high-level radioactive waste is generated.

2: Blanket, Divertor, Gyrotron
Blanket: A device that extracts the heat generated by nuclear fusion out of the reactor to produce triple hydrogen as fuel.
Divertor: A device that removes impurities such as helium produced by nuclear fusion from the reactor.
Gyrotrons: radio frequency generators that generate plasma, heat, and drive current during fusion reactor startup

Overview of Kyoto Fusion Engineering Co.

Establishment	October 2019
Business	Technology & equipment development for fusion reactors
Head Office Location	Uji City, Kyoto
President & CEO	Akira Nagao