On June 1, 2015, the Cyber Kyoto Laboratory of The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics (KCGI), the sole registry for the geographical name top-level domain ".kyoto" supported by Kyoto Prefecture, opened at the Keihanna Open Innovation Center (KICK), a prefectural academic research facility in Seika Town and Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture. In addition to the operation and research of ".kyoto", the institute will promote efforts to build an "Open University Kyoto" that promotes collaborative education with universities around the world using e-learning.
The KCG Group, including The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics and Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG), is planning to hold a concert "Bassoon and Cello Music" on Sunday, July 19 at the Concert Hall of KCG Kyoto Ekimae Campus to celebrate the opening of the Cyber Kyoto Laboratory.
In September 2014, the Cyber Kyoto Laboratory received the first certification from the prefectural government as the center's research utilization plan. On May 26, 2015, The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics and Kyoto Prefecture signed a comprehensive agreement on collaboration and cooperation, including the use of ".kyoto" to strengthen the promotion of the Kyoto brand.
In operating ".kyoto", Cyber Kyoto Laboratory has recruited founding members as part of the Founder's Program, a priority registration program (up to 20 domain names can be reserved and acquired in advance), and on June 1, 2015, "urasenke.kyoto" of Urasenke, a Japanese tea ceremony school, was registered as the first domain name to debut in cyberspace. Since then, The Founders Program ends on November 30 of this year. The subsequent sales programs will be done according to the regulations of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit organization in the U.S. that manages domain names used on the Internet. First will be "Sunrise I" (for alphanumeric names and hyphens) from October. Next is “Sunrise 2” (for names registered as trademarks), which is priority registration for public and public interest organizations. From January 2016, "Landrush" (premium price) and lastly, from February, registration for the general public will open up.
