February 24, the mayor of Fukuoka city, Soichiro Takashima, announced that the former Daimyo Elementary School site is going to reborn as the Public-Private Collaborative Startup Support Facility.
Creates future unicorn companies
Now, Fukuoka city is a city that especially the excitement of a startup is attracting attention in Japan. This Daimyo Elementary School is the centered of the city, is born again and named “Fukuoka growth next”. This logo contains the desire to raise the startup movement that is happening now in Fukuoka to the next stage.
This project’s mission is “Creates future unicorn companies”. Additionally, their vision is following.
- Contributing to job creation and local economic development through support to start-up companies and the second foundation.
- With its own startup support system, support enterprises to create new value and challenge the global market.
Also Cafe and DIY Studio
Each classroom in the school building will change to various spaces. One classroom will be an incubation office that will drive startup growth. Other classroom will be a co-working space, an event space. In addition, cafe and DIY studio will be made.
Very excited about what kind of excitement will be shown, as there are a few examples of utilizing schools for such a large scale in Japan.
Rich educational support programs are scheduled
You should pay attention to what kind of content is managed at the former Daimyo Elementary School. The mayor announced this project will support startups in various aspects: Educational Support, Public-Private Partnership, Community Formation, Human Resources, Capital Invitation, and Information Dispatch. Especially for educational support Osamu Ogasawara (President of ABBALab and nomad) and Taizo Son (CEO of MISTLETOE) are involved as a fundamentalist.
Aiming for a “place” to be a symbol of Founding Special Zone
This project is also going to focus on fostering designers called Fukuoka Design Hub, and fostering engineers called Engineer Lab. Fukuoka, as fostering human resources and matching.
There are many famous VCs, financial institutions, and mentors, will be cooperated as a capital supplier. It means VCs and investors who operate funds exceeding 356.6 million USD in total will be involved. It is the next 13 companies: 500 startups, ABBALab, Alliance Technology, B Dash Ventures, CAMPFIRE, GLOBIS CAPITAL PARTNERS, Igi Law Firm, Incubate Fund, Infinity Venture Partners, Link Asia Capital, Mistletoe, Mizuho Bank, Ltd. Innovation company support room, and QB Partners.
The KPI as the performance goal for a year and a half of the project period is “the number of business matching cases”, “the number of employment increase”, “the sales increase over the previous year”, “the number of investments and the investment amount”.
The deadline for entrance applications is until the March 10!
Fukuoka city seems to be looking for a startup companies to move into “FUKUOKA growth next”, until March 10, 2017. You can entry from their application page on the website of “FUKUOKA growth next”.
