FTC offers three programs for different stages of startup and entrepreneurship.

　Program participants can receive guidance support for actualizing ideas and brushing up business plans from professionals with extensive experience in providing support (business and technical advice related to business plan creation, matching, and developing new markets as well as matching opportunities, etc.).

　Participants can also attend innovation creation events that include not only networking events or study sessions on fundraising but also pitch events (presentations on efforts aimed at commercialization) to attract venture capitalists and others to help procure funding and business partners.

Three Programs for Accompanied Support

*The Six Focus Areas of the Fukushima Innovation Coast Framework: Decommissioning; Robots and Drones; Energy, Environment, and Recycling; Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries; Medicine; Aerospace.

FTC provides subsidies to participants in its three guidance support programs for costs related to prototype development, market research, and demonstrations.

　・Subsidy amount: up to ¥10 million per company (individual)

　・Subsidy rate: 10/10

　*Screening will be conducted according to the project plan, and a subsidy of up to ¥10 million will be granted within the budget.

　*In 2021, between ¥1 million and ¥5 million was granted as a result of screening.

　Subsidized Expenses:

　　〇 Lease and usage fees for business facilities and equipment

　　〇 Travel expenses

　　〇 Cost of goods, supplies, and raw materials

　　〇 Communication and transportation expenses

　　〇 Survey expenses

　　〇 Outsourcing fees

　Examples of Subsidy Usage

　　〇 The cost of commissioned research to investigate market needs.

　　〇 The cost of a commissioned design including system requirements and design blueprints for creating a prototype.

　　〇 The purchase of supplies, consumables, and raw materials for prototype production.

　　〇 The cost of outsourced processing for prototype production.

　　〇 The cost of renting and using equipment for prototype production.

　　〇 The cost of renting an incubation facility in the Innovation Area as a prototype production site.

　　〇 The cost of using the Fukushima Robot Test Field to verify prototype performance.

　　〇 The cost of production and installation for demonstration tests for verifying solutions to local or social issues.

　　〇 The cost of travel and transporting equipment for verifying prototype performance in the Innovation Area.

Many institutions in the Innovation Area, including government agencies, financial institutions, venture capitalists, and universities, act as FTC supporters, providing support for the commercialization of program participants’ businesses (as of October 2022).

FTC Supporters: