Entrepreneurial Support Program(EntryCourse)
GTIE GAP Fund 2026 Entry Course 2nd call for applications
Entry course is the GAP fund of the first step to start a business in the near future for researchers and students of GTIE universities. Here is the list of successful teams which receive Entry Course funding during the second call for applications in 2026. The research is scheduled to begin within July 2026.
Click here for details of the open call
Development of Up- and Down-Conversion Solar Cell Films for Simultaneous Power Generation, Thermal Management, and UV Protection
This project aims to develop a transparent solar cell film that simultaneously enables power generation, thermal management, and UV protection by utilizing proprietary wavelength-conversion materials that transform unused near-infrared (NIR) and ultraviolet (UV) light into visible light harvestable by solar cells. Conventional heat-shielding films merely block NIR light and dissipate it as heat. In contrast, our technology converts NIR photons into visible light, allowing them to contribute to electricity generation while reducing cooling loads and improving solar-cell efficiency. Furthermore, UV light is converted into visible light, suppressing the degradation of solar cells and building materials. The resulting film maintains high transparency and can be integrated as an add-on functional layer for a wide range of photovoltaic technologies, including silicon, perovskite, and organic solar cells. The initial target market is building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), where the technology is expected to contribute to energy-efficient buildings and accelerate the transition toward a carbon-neutral society.
Development of a Home-Based Hormone Monitoring Platform to Reduce the Burden of Clinic Visits for Women Undergoing Fertility Treatment
Infertility treatment is not only a personal and family issue but also an important social challenge closely linked to declining birth rates. In Japan, approximately 370,000 women undergo fertility treatment, many of whom experience significant stress due to frequent clinic visits and difficulties in scheduling appointments. This burden arises largely from the need for repeated blood tests and ultrasound examinations to monitor follicular development and hormonal status throughout the treatment process. Consequently, the current clinical workflow increases patient burden while also placing pressure on healthcare resources and reducing clinical efficiency. This project aims to develop a home-based hormone monitoring platform capable of measuring fertility-related hormones in saliva with accuracy comparable to hospital-based testing. By enabling frequent, non-invasive monitoring at home, the technology has the potential to reduce the number of clinic visits and alleviate the time, psychological, and financial burdens associated with fertility treatment. In addition, continuous hormone data collected outside the clinic can support more efficient clinical decision-making and personalized treatment strategies. Looking ahead, the large-scale accumulation of longitudinal hormone data will provide a valuable foundation for AI-driven analysis, enabling optimization of fertility treatments and the development of new data-driven women’s healthcare services.
A Next-Generation Human Kidney Platform to Bridge the Translational Valley of Death in Drug Development by Recapitulating and Predicting Human Kidney Pathophysiology
This project aims to establish a drug discovery support platform that enables the evaluation of therapeutic efficacy and nephrotoxicity under human disease-relevant conditions using patient-derived adult kidney organoids and kidney microphysiological systems (MPS). The primary customers will be pharmaceutical companies developing therapeutics for kidney diseases, as well as pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) requiring human-relevant nephrotoxicity assessment. In the initial phase, the platform will focus particularly on drug development for diabetic kidney disease.
A major limitation of conventional animal models and existing in vitro systems is their inability to faithfully reproduce the chronic pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD), including aging, cellular senescence, and inter-individual variability. As a result, nonclinical findings often show limited predictive value for human clinical outcomes. To overcome this challenge, our platform integrates patient-derived kidney organoids representing healthy, artificially induced CKD, and naturally occurring CKD states with kidney MPS technology. This approach enables a more human-translatable evaluation system for drug efficacy and kidney toxicity.
By providing a human disease-mimetic platform at the nonclinical stage, this project will improve the precision of development decision-making, reduce the cost of late-stage drug attrition, and accelerate therapeutic development for kidney diseases. In the future, the platform will also be expanded to nephrotoxicity assessment for drug candidates in non-renal disease areas.
Development of a Glymphatic System-Based Drug Delivery System (DDS)
While nucleic acid therapeutics are being actively developed worldwide as a new class of mid-sized medicines for neurodegenerative and other intractable neurological diseases. However, insufficient delivery to the brain remains the major obstacle limiting their clinical success.
In this project, we focus on the glymphatic system, a recently recognized pathway for molecular transport within the central nervous system, and aim to harness this mechanism for drug delivery applications.
Specifically, we will develop a first-in-class drug delivery system (DDS) platform that dramatically enhances the brain distribution of nucleic acid therapeutics through pharmacological activation of the glymphatic system. Unlike conventional delivery strategies that require chemical modification of therapeutic agents, our approach leverages an endogenous physiological transport mechanism already present in the body. As a result, this platform has the potential to be broadly applicable not only to nucleic acid therapeutics but also to a wide range of emerging therapeutic modalities, thereby providing a transformative solution for central nervous system drug delivery.
Development and proof of concept for commercialization of next-generation building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) modules with high design, high efficiency, lightweight, and high rigidity
Based on the concept of "making all buildings beautiful power plants," high design, high efficiency, light weight, high rigidity, and low cost will be realized with our unique mica pigment and honeycomb structure, and then demonstrate the next-generation BIPV in urban areas and confirm the effectiveness of the business. The business model is based on the prototype sales business in the first phase of the start-up transition, and the production of products to order and outsourcing (fab-less or fab-light) in the second phase. After the start-up is established, the company will mainly earn sales of colored glass and mica pigments, as well as licensing business and consulting on modular design services, as customer needs. In this application, exhibitions for customer development, outdoor demonstration tests, and prototypes of modules with three or more colors will be promoted.
Root-zone state control for crop robustness through stable seedling production.
One of the biggest challenges in modern agriculture is the lack of reproducibility in seedling establishment and early crop performance. In many cropping systems, “half the harvest depends on the quality of the seedling,” yet stable seedling production remains highly dependent on experience and intuition. Rising temperatures and increasingly unpredictable growing conditions are leading to greater seedling losses, uneven establishment, and increased economic burdens for growers and nursery operators.
The RET-system (Rhizosphere Environment Tuning System) addresses this challenge by treating the root zone as a controllable biological state shaped by redox conditions and microbial activity. By optimising root-zone conditions, the system seeks to maximise the inherent potential of crops, soils, and existing agricultural inputs, improving the reproducibility of crop production.
Using sweet potato seedling production as an entry market, the project is validating the technology with growers and nursery operators while converting cultivation know-how into reproducible Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Ultimately, the RET-system aims to become a root-zone state control platform supporting regenerative agriculture and Nature-based Solutions (NbS), with the goal of commercialisation and broad societal implementation.
Commercialization of LiDAR and Optical Marker-based Positioning Technology for Construction Machinery Automation in GPS-denied Environments such as Tunnels and Mountainous Areas
Construction sites such as tunnels and mountainous areas, where GPS accuracy is insufficient, account for approximately half of civil engineering projects, making the high-precision positioning required for ICT construction difficult. The alternative, automatic-tracking total stations, are costly, require an assistant operator, and stop functioning when the line of sight is obstructed. In this project, we are developing a retrofit autonomous positioning system that detects our proprietary optical markers with a LiDAR sensor and achieves centimeter-level accuracy without GPS, even under line-of-sight obstruction.
The system offers three advantages over total stations: approximately one-fifth the cost, no need for an assistant operator, and robustness against obstruction. The business model is a subscription service delivered through construction-equipment rental companies. In the future, this technology can become a general-purpose foundation for mobility positioning in domains where GPS does not reach, such as autonomous vehicles and space exploration rovers. We aim to establish a startup that develops technology to guide mobility into environments beyond the reach of GPS.
Development of Wide-Gap Bearingless Motors for Biological, Medical, and Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment
Based on the proposed theory of magnetic suspension force, our goal is to develop and commercially implement the world’s first "multi-monopole bearingless motor." This motor will simultaneously achieve a wide air gap, low height profile, high torque, and high magnetic suspension stability. Our initial target is the biopharmaceutical manufacturing market, which currently suffers from issues such as wear debris from existing bearings and insufficient torque.
Packaging of CMG Attitude-Control Software Covering Space and Ground Environments
The attitude control of satellites and drones requires both rapid slewing—quickly changing orientation—and precise pointing that holds a target steadily. These two are difficult to achieve at the same time, and conventional systems have relied on separate dedicated devices. This project commercializes an original "three-mode automatic-switching control algorithm" that switches in real time between a control moment gyroscope (CMG) and a reaction wheel (RW) according to the attitude error, delivered as a hardware-independent, general-purpose control software library. A single software package thereby achieves both high-speed slewing (5°/s or more) and sub-degree pointing accuracy simultaneously. Because the software can be embedded into existing platforms to draw out their full performance, we will first carry out proof-of-concept (PoC) demonstrations in accessible ground-based fields such as industrial drones and autonomous mobile robots to reach TRL5, and then expand into the space domain, leading to the establishment of a university-originated startup.