News
2026/03/11
GTIE GAP Fund Entry Course No. 5 (2nd term in 2026) is now open for applications.
GTIE GAP Fund Entry Course No. 5 (2026, 2nd term) is now accepting applications.
*March 17, 2010 Application form is now available.
Outline of application:
1. Eligibility
① Researchers affiliated with the following universities and other institutions of 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, AIST
*Researchers affiliated with the University of Tokyo are not eligible to apply for this entry course (see p. 15 of the application guideline for details).
(2) Researchers affiliated with the following institutions that have completed the GTIE platform participation procedures
Kogakuin University, Tokyo Denki University
(3) All other conditions must be met (for details, see the application guidelines). 2.
2. application deadline
Noon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026 [strictly observed] 3 .
3. schedule (2026)
Application submission deadline Noon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Document review Mid to late April (tentative)
Interview Screening Friday, May 15 and Sunday, May 17 (tentative)
*Online interviews will be conducted.
Notification of interview results Mid to late May (tentative)
Start of the program: July (after JST approval date) (tentative)
*Approval by JST is required after the GTIE is adopted, which is approximately 1 to 1.5 months after the submission of the program plan to JST.
The timing of the start of program research and the time when your institution’s budget can be used depends on your institution. 4.
4. Estimated number of proposals to be selected
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 expected number. Therefore, the number of proposals adopted may increase or decrease. 5.
5. research and development expenses (total R&D period, direct expenses)
Maximum 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. 6.
6. R&D proposals to be solicited:
This program is designed to support research and development led by the Principal Investigators and aiming to return research results to society through the creation of university-launched start-ups aiming for the global market based on innovative technology seeds from universities participating in the GTIE platform, and university-launched start-ups with high social impact that also contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. The program is open to R&D projects that aim to return the results of their research to society. R&D proposals at the basic research stage (purely scientific research without direct consideration of specific applications) and R&D proposals that require a considerable number of years and funds before they can be launched are not eligible for support under this program.
<Guideline for the end of this program
Proposals selected for this program will be considered for application to the GAP Fund at the STEP2 stage or other entrepreneurship support programs, with the aim of starting a business after determining the potential for practical application and appropriate strategies at the end of the program. When applying, please refer to the examples of achievement goals in the application guidelines and set appropriate achievement goals while taking into consideration the characteristics of the issue and the field. 7.
Application Documents
(1) Application Guidelines
(2) Application Documents
Form 0-4 *For students Form 0-5
(When submitting, the created file should be in PDF format)
(1) Form 0_Research Principal Investigator Requirements Confirmation Form
Form 1_Application Form Outline of Research and Development Project
(3) Form 2_Intellectual Property Confirmation Form
(4) Form 3_ Proposed Proposal Budget
(v) Form 4_Presentation of Proposal (maximum of 10 PowerPoint pages, PDF of the prepared file) *Optional
(6) Form 5_Confirmation Form for Students
*Please refer to the “ Student Acknowledgment Form” when you see the word “Guidelines for Applicants” in the form.
8. how to submit your application
Please fill out the following application form and upload the documents downloaded and prepared in “7.
Submission address Application form URL: https://gtie.form.kintoneapp.com/public/gt05entry26
Each file (PDF file) of the application documents can be up to 10 MB. Please ensure that each file is no larger than 10 MB.
In the application form, there are fields for entering the “Principal Investigator’s E-mail address” and “E-mail address of the person in charge at the research institution. 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.
You may submit the application form only once per proposal. Please prepare the information to be entered in advance to facilitate the entry process.
Reference: Preparation of Application Form Entry Information
9. Application Restrictions
JST has established restrictions on duplicate applications for the same Principal Investigator for 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 one fund while implementing the other 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 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 Principal Investigator is not allowed to apply for multiple proposals to the same fund.
10. GAP Fund Q&A
Q&A
11. Inquiries
If you have any questions, please contact the “Inquiries” of your university listed in the application guidelines.
11. Notification of Selection Results
Final selection results will be notified by e-mail in late May 2026.
Purpose and Intent:
In this 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 the GTIE platform to GTIE will provide support through the GAP Fund Program to researchers affiliated with universities participating in the GTIE platform.
In the GTIE GAP Fund Program “Entry Course No. 5 (2nd period in 2026),” GTIE will support the creation of (1) startups from universities and other organizations that aim for the global market based on innovative technology seeds and (2) startups from universities and other organizations with high social impact that also contribute to achieving the SDGs. The program is open to R&D projects that aim to return the results to society through the creation of (1) startups from universities that aim for the global market based on innovative technology seeds and (2) startups from universities that have a high social impact and contribute to the achievement of 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 entrepreneurship support personnel of the university to which the principal investigator belongs. In promoting the research and development, 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.