KIFEE was created by the universities in the Kyoto region to develop an international arena for strategic cooperation between universities working to develop a sustainable society, inspired by the Kyoto Protocol.

When the Bilateral Agreement on Technological Cooperation between Japan and Norway was signed in May 2004, there was a desire to build up a long-term research cooperation that could serve as a basis for industrial cooperation. Because of the long-lasting and good relations between the universities in the Kyoto region, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norwegian universities were invited to participate in KIFEE.

Since the bilateral agreement involves interactive research between energy and materials to provide new solutions to build a sustainable future, it was decided to utilize KIFEE as platform and arena for the strategic research cooperation. The Research Council of Norway allocated funds for the development of this arena, and Innovation Norway made their invaluable network available for the project.

Other associated partners have been included; universities and research institutes both from Japan and Norway. University of Oslo, University of Bergen, IFE and SINTEF have become permanent partners from Norway.

The KIFEE concept has created a unique scientific network involving many universities, research institutes and enterprises in Japan. The basis for more extensive collaboration and co-operating projects has to a large extent been realized.