News

2024/09/27

GTIE GAP Fund 2024 Entry Course Second Call for Entries Now Open!

GTIE GAP Fund 2024 Entry Course is now open for applications

Purpose and Intent:
Under the GAP Fund Program, the GreaterTokyoInnovationEcosystem (hereinafter referred to as “GTIE”), entrusted with the Startup Ecosystem Co-creation Program of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) New Industry Creation Fund for University Startups, will provide support to researchers affiliated with universities participating in the GTIE platform through the GAP Fund Program. GTIE will provide support through the GAP Fund Program to researchers affiliated with universities participating in the GTIE platform.

GTIE GAP Fund Program 2024 “Entry (hereinafter referred to as “the Course”) The GTIE GAP Fund Program 2024 “Entry (hereinafter referred to as the “Course”)” is now open for applications. This course is open to (1) university-launched startups that aim for the global market based on innovative technology seeds and (2) university-launched startups that have a high social impact and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs, with the aim of returning the results of their research to society. (2) Research and development that aims to return the results to society through the creation of startups from universities, etc. that have a high social impact and contribute to achieving the SDGs.

The selected proposals will be promoted under a system in which the principal investigator responsible for the research and development is supported by the university’s entrepreneurship support personnel. Milestones (milestone interim targets and business and R&D milestones) will be set for the promotion of the proposal, and business development and R&D will be conducted in an integrated manner to achieve these milestones.

Outline of this course:
R&D Proposals to be solicited

1. target
Research Proposals (GAP Funds) that will promote the brush-up of business models, prototype production, acquisition of data (experimental and computational results) for hypothesis testing, market validation, etc., with the aim of commercializing the research results of the research institution.
(1) Research and development that aims to return the results to society through the creation of startups from universities and other institutions that aim for the global market with innovative technology seeds as their core.
(2) Research and development aiming to return the results to society through the creation of university-launched startups with high social impact that also contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
*(3) Research and development aiming to return the results to society through the creation of startups that have a high social impact and contribute to the achievement of the SDGs .

<Guideline for the end of this program
Proposals selected for this program will be evaluated at the end of the program to determine the feasibility of commercialization and appropriate strategies, and will be considered for application to the GAP Fund in the STEP 2 stage or other entrepreneurship support programs, with the aim of starting a business. When applying, please refer to the examples of achievement goals in the application guidelines and set appropriate achievement goals, taking into account the characteristics of the issue and the field.

Application Outline:

1. eligibility requirements
(1) Researchers affiliated with the following universities on the GTIE platform
Tokyo Institute of Technology, Chiba University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Yokohama City University, Kanagawa University of Health and Welfare, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Keio University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo University of Science, Shibaura Institute of Technology, University of Electro-Communications, Ibaraki University, Tokai University, RIKEN, Yokohama National University

*Researchers from the University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and the University of Tsukuba are not eligible to apply for this entry course (see page 17 for details).

(For details, please refer to the application guideline) 2.

2. application period and selection schedule
[ Application deadline ] Noon, Monday, November 11, 2024
[ Schedule ]
Deadline for application submission Monday, November 11, 2024 at noon
Interview screening Late November 2024 (tentative)
Notification of interview results December 2024 (tentative)
Start of research January 2025 (tentative)
*Approval by JST is required after the GTIE is adopted. 1 month to 1.5 months after the proposal is submitted to JST is the target time. 3.

3. number of proposals to be adopted
about 10
*If there are outstanding proposals, they will be selected regardless of the number of proposals above. On the other hand, if there are only a few proposals that meet the selection criteria, the number of proposals may be less than the planned number. Therefore, the number of proposals adopted may increase or decrease. 4.

R&D expenses (total R&D period, direct expenses)
Up to 5 million yen per proposal
*Maximum amount, direct expenses only.
*The R&D expenses may be increased or decreased as a result of the screening process. 5.

5. application documents
(1) Application guidelines

(2) Application Documents
Forms 1-4 *For students 1-5 (PDF of the prepared file)

(1) Form 1_Application Form

(2) Form 2_Budget Plan

(3) Form 3_Proposal Description Document (maximum of 10 PowerPoint pages; prepared file must be a PDF)

(4) Form 4_Intellectual Property Confirmation Form

(5) Form 5_Student Acknowledgment Form
*Please refer to the Student Acknowledgment Form when you see the word “Guidelines for Public Offers” in the Student Acknowledgment Form.

6. how to submit application documents
Please fill out the following application form and upload the documents downloaded and prepared in “5. application documents” above.

Where to submit Application form : in preparation

Application Restrictions
JST has established restrictions on duplicate applications for the same Principal Investigator in JST projects. Please refer to the application guideline for details.

The same Principal Investigator cannot simultaneously conduct the “Fund for New Industry Creation from Universities” and the “New Industry Creation from Universities Program for Research Results Deployment”. Also, with the exception of the final year of the program, it is not possible to apply for another fund while implementing one fund. There are no restrictions at the application stage, but if you have applied to more than one fund, you will be asked to choose whether to implement the fund that has been approved and withdraw from the fund for which you have applied, or to withdraw from the fund that has been approved in order to wait for the results of the review of the fund for which you have applied. The same PI is not allowed to apply for multiple proposals to the same fund.

8. Contact
If you have any questions, please contact the “Contact” of the university to which you belong, as indicated in the application guidelines.

9. Notification of Selection Results
Final selection results will be notified by e-mail in December 2024.

[ Preliminary Briefing (online) ]
A preliminary briefing session (online) will be held for principal investigators and entrepreneurial support personnel on Friday, October 18, from 12:00 to 13:00. If you wish to attend, please register by noon on Thursday, October 17. The URL for the briefing will be provided to those who have registered.
Registration form: https://forms.gle/jWCiFykVTCWc2KAY9