LINE Corporation, a company that provides a free communication app, opened "LINE KYOTO," its third technology development site in Japan following Tokyo and Fukuoka, at a building in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, on June 13. Since Kyoto has many students and is a popular city for foreigners, the company aims to hire many IT personnel in the city and accelerate development of new services like those for smart speakers. Other major companies have successively launched offices in Kyoto City, so competition for hiring human resources is expected to intensify.

Photo= "LINE KYOTO" office, where foreign staff exceed Japanese (June 13, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto)

"The sensitivity and capability of developers have a major impact on service development. We'd like as many superior personnel as possible to enter our company." Takeshi Idezawa, president of LINE Corporation, revealed the objective for advancing into Kyoto was to hire technical experts while he made a courtesy call on Kyoto City Hall in Nakagyo Ward and had an interview on that opening day.

Photo= President Idezawa (right) describes the aims of "LINE KYOTO" = Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto

President Idezawa cited the large number of students as an advantage of Kyoto. He said, "There is a concentration of excellent universities. We want to provide growth opportunities, for example, experience in leading-edge development, for students who can be immediate assets." He sent a fervent appeal to students who would like to become IT technicians.

The lure of Kyoto which attracts foreigners was also a decisive factor. According to President Idezawa, "Kyoto is popular among overseas engineers. We have had more than 1,000 employment entries (applications for work), 80 percent of which were foreign people." In fact, seven out of ten people hired for the development site in Kyoto, are foreigners, according to him.

A Japanese man, who was hired this spring and has worked at the development site in Kyoto, is from the Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University. His laboratory was an R&D partner of LINE Corporation, which led him to join the company. He said, "It is good for me to be able to be involved in collaborative research with my alma mater even after starting work at the company."

LINE Corporation plans to increase its current 18 employees in Kyoto to around 100 early on, and is also looking for a new office. President Idezawa said, "Although we will develop services for the smart speaker at first, once we reach 100 employees, we will provide comprehensive services. We want to create services that can be expanded around the world from Kyoto." In anticipation of the demand from foreigners visiting Kyoto, he also showed a positive attitude toward electronic payment systems and share cycle services.