Living Best and ATR Launch Japan Gateway for Global Longevity Ventures

Living Best and ATR launch the Japan Gateway, a pathway helping global longevity ventures validate, pilot, implement, and scale through Keihanna Science City.

New pathway at Keihanna Science City connects global longevity ventures with Japanese users, partners, funding and routes to commercial scale.

KYOTO, JAPAN, September 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Living Best and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) today announced the Living Best Japan Gateway, a new pathway for international longevity and health-technology ventures seeking to validate, enter and scale in Japan.

The Gateway's first public activation will take place at the Kyoto Smart City Expo at Keihanna Plaza on 8-9 October 2026. Selected ventures will showcase their products, meet potential Japanese corporate partners through ATR's business-matching network and be considered for ATR's KGAP+ business-development accelerator, whose next cohort begins in December 2026.

The Gateway connects selected companies with Living City Keihanna, a longevity innovation hub powered by ATR and Living Best. It brings together global innovation, research capabilities, real-world users, Japanese implementation partners and capital in a pathway designed to continue beyond introductions and one-off pilots.

From market interest to lasting adoption

Japan is an attractive but demanding market for international ventures. Companies can become stranded between validation, implementation and funding even when their technology has clear potential.

The Gateway is designed to connect those stages. Living Best will help selected ventures assess real demand, identify appropriate partners and funding routes, implement successfully and build the evidence needed for wider commercial scale.

For investors, the Gateway will provide clearer Japan-specific evidence of consumer demand, institutional viability and adoption potential, supporting more informed decisions about which ventures warrant further backing.

A living hub for innovation

At the heart of Living City Keihanna is a simple principle: start with people, not technology. The hub combines ATR's research and innovation ecosystem and networks across industry, academia, the public sector and local residents with communities prepared to identify needs, shape solutions, test them in everyday settings and support their adoption.

Living Best contributes global venture sourcing, human-centred validation and commercialisation expertise. Since 2021, it has reviewed more than 2,000 ventures from over 40 countries and generated more than 17,000 appraisals of shortlisted concepts with Japanese consumers, alongside input from care operators, clinicians, investors and policy specialists.

Dominic Carter, CEO and Co-Founder of Living Best, said: "Global ventures entering Japan need more than introductions. They need the right support from validation through implementation, funding and scale. Together with ATR, we want to help the strongest innovations prove what works with real people and real partners - and turn that evidence into lasting market success."

Hiroyuki Suzuki, Senior Executive Vice President and Representative Director of ATR, said: "Keihanna brings together research and innovation capabilities, infrastructure and networks across industry, academia, the public sector and local residents. Through this partnership with Living Best, we want to connect those assets more directly with global innovation and create stronger pathways from validation to implementation and wider market adoption."

Get involved

International longevity, agetech and health-technology ventures with a product already in market or at an advanced stage of development may put themselves forward for consideration. Participation is selective and subject to assessment by Living Best and ATR.
Investors and other organizations interested in the Japan Gateway are also invited to connect with Living Best.

Applications for the October venture intake close: Friday, 25 September 2026.
Book an introductory call

About the Living Best Japan Gateway
The Living Best Japan Gateway is a route into the Japanese market for international longevity ventures, operated by Living Best with ATR at Keihanna Science City. It combines Living Best's assessment of Japanese consumer and institutional demand with ATR's research environment, corporate access and acceleration network.

About ATR
Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) was established in 1986 and opened as the first research institute in Keihanna Science City in 1989. ATR conducts research in fields including computational neuroscience, deep interaction science, and wireless and communications, and operates open-innovation platforms including KGAP+. https://www.atr.jp/

About Living Best
Living Best is a human-centric, evidence-led platform for longevity innovation in Japan, co-founded by Dominic Carter and Debbie Howard and backed by The Carter Group, which has a 25-year history of working with businesses seeking to enter and expand in the Japanese market. Living Best sources and assesses longevity ventures using user feedback and expert inputs, and supports selected products into the Japanese market. Its community of everyday users and professionals further supports its mission to popularise solutions for Japan's super-ageing society. https://living-best.tech/

Adam Claydon-Platt
Living Best / The Carter Group
+81 80-8520-8009
adam@living-best.tech