News
2025/06/30
GTIE GAP Fund 3rd Explore Course (2025, 2nd term) is now accepting applications <Explore 3 years>.
GTIE GAP Fund Exploratory Course 3rd Call for Applications (2nd term in 2025) <Exploratory 3 years>.
Outline of Application:
1. Eligibility
1. Researchers affiliated with the following universities and other institutions in the GTIE platform
The University of Tokyo, Waseda University, Tokyo University of Science, University of Tsukuba, Chiba University, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Yokohama City University, Kanagawa University of Health and Welfare, Keio University, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Ibaraki University, University of Electro-Communications, Tokai University, RIKEN, Yokohama National University, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
(2) All other conditions related to technological seeds must be met (for details, please refer to the application guidelines).
2. application period and selection schedule
[ Application deadline ] Noon, Thursday, July 31, 2025 [ Strictly observed ].
[ Schedule ] [ Deadline for submission of applications
Deadline for submission of applications July 31, 2025 (Thursday) 12:00 noon
Interview screening Mid/late August 2025
Notification of selection result (informal decision) Late August 2025 (tentative)
Program start: October 1, 2025 or later (after JST approval date) (tentative)
*The schedule after the deadline for submission of application forms, etc. is a schedule and is subject to change.
*Approval by JST is required after the GTIE is adopted. 1.5 to 3.5 months after the submission of the plan to JST is the target date. 3.
3. application course
Explore 3 years
4. expected number of applications
About 8 cases
5. research and development expenses (total R&D period, direct expenses)
Upper limit of 60 million yen (15 million yen in the first year, 15 million yen in the second year, and 30 million yen in the third year)
*Progress evaluation will be conducted every fiscal year, and the results may lead to cancellation of the proposal, increase or decrease of R&D expenses, or extension/shortening of the R&D period. 6.
6. R&D Proposals to be solicited:
Research proposals (GAP Fund) to brush up business models, manufacture prototypes, acquire data (experimental and computational results) for hypothesis testing, and conduct market validation, with the aim of commercializing the research results of the research institution.
*This program does not apply to research that does not aim at commercialization or company business and preparation (registration, etc.).
<Guideline for the end of this program
Proposals selected for this program are expected to have reached the stage where venture capitalists can make investment decisions by the end of the program. When applying for the program, please refer to the examples of achievement goals and set appropriate achievement goals, taking into consideration the characteristics of the issue and the field of research. 7.
Application Documents
(1) Application Outline
(2) Application Documents
Applications must be submitted jointly with a commercialization promotion organization. The Principal Investigator and the Commercialization Organization are requested to submit the application form with the confirmation of the organization to which they belong. There are two types of application forms: (1) to (4) must be prepared jointly by the project leader and the commercialization organization, and (5) to (8) must be prepared solely by the commercialization organization. For details, please refer to the application guidelines.
Form 1: Outline of R&D Proposal
(2) Form 2 Proposed budget
Form 3: Intellectual Property Confirmation Form (if IP is to be utilized in the proposal)
(4) Supplementary Explanation of Technology Seeds (maximum of 10 PowerPoint pages) (optional)
⑤Form 4 Outline of commercialization promotion organization and commercialization promoter (person in charge)
(6) Form 5_Financial status of the commercialization promotion organization
7) Financial reports (for the most recent three fiscal years) or annual securities reports (for the most recent three fiscal years) of the commercialization promotion organization
⑧ Certificate of tax payment (national tax)
(*If your organization has already been selected as a candidate for a GTIE project promotion organization, please submit Form 4 only. (Form 5 and financial reports are not required.)
8. how to submit application documents
Fill out the application form below, and upload and submit the documents downloaded and prepared in “7. Documents should be converted to PDF format and each file size should be less than 10 MB (multiple files can be uploaded).
Principal investigators should submit application documents (1) through (4) using the “Form for Principal Investigators” below. The commercialization promotion organization should submit application documents (5) through (8) from the “Form for Commercialization Promotion Organizations” below.
Form for Principal Investigators
Application Forms will be available on July 10.
The “Principal Investigator”, “Research Organization Contact”, and “Commercialization Organization Contact” e-mail address input boxes are provided in the “Principal Investigator” and “Commercialization Organization Contact” forms.
The “Principal Investigator” and “Contact Person at the Commercialization Organization” e-mail address input boxes are provided on the form for the Commercialization Organization.
An e-mail (excluding attachments) will be automatically sent to the e-mail address you entered regarding the information you entered in the application form.
It is recommended that you prepare the information to be entered in advance to facilitate the entry process.
Reference: Preparation of information to be entered in the application form
Preparation(for Principal Investigators) ・ Preparation (for Commercialization Agencies)
9. Application Restrictions
JST has established restrictions on duplicate applications for JST projects for the same Principal Investigator, and if applicable, the applicant will not be able to apply for this project. Please refer to the application guidelines for details.
The same Principal Investigator cannot simultaneously conduct the “Fund for New Industry Creation from Universities” and “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 one fund while implementing one of the other funds.
If you have applied to more than one fund, you will be asked to choose whether to implement the fund that has been selected and withdraw from the fund for which you have applied, or to withdraw from the fund that has been selected 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 more than one proposal in the same fund.
In principle, there are no restrictions on applications by commercialization organizations.
10. Contact
If you have any questions, please contact the “Contact” of the university to which you belong, as indicated in the application guideline. 11 .
11. Notification of Selection Results
GTIE will notify all applicants of the results of the written review by e-mail approximately two weeks after the submission deadline to the Principal Investigators, the person in charge at the commercialization promotion organization, and the person in charge at the research institution. At that time, applicants who have passed the document review will also be notified of the schedule for the interview review.
Purpose and Intent:
In this GAP Fund Program, the GreaterTokyoInnovationEcosystem (hereinafter referred to as “GTIE”), which is 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 the GTIE platform to The GTIE GAP Fund program provides support to researchers affiliated with universities participating in the GTIE platform.
GTIE is pleased to announce the opening of the third round of the GTIE GAP Fund Exploratory Course (2nd term in 2025) (hereinafter referred to as “the Course”). The GTIE GAP Fund Exploratory Course This course will support research proposals that aim to create university-launched startups with the potential for significant business growth, including international expansion, by generating significant social and economic impact based on the innovative technological seeds of universities participating in the GTIE platform.
The selected research projects will be jointly conducted by the principal investigator responsible for the research and development and the commercialization promotion organization (VC, etc.) responsible for the business development of the technology seeds, and the research and development will be promoted under the project management of the commercialization promotion organization. In promoting the project, milestones (interim milestones and business and R&D milestones) will be set, and business development and R&D will be conducted in an integrated manner to achieve these milestones.