Summary of the Ecosystem Building Plan
1. Goals and KPIs of the ecosystem formation

Startup Frontier HOKKAIDO
Number of startups
in Hokkaido that raise funds

40

FY2024:companies per year(2018: 23 companies per year)

Amount of funds raised bystartups in Hokkaido

Funding size ofstartups in Hokkaido

FY2024:billion yen per year

billion yen
A total of
by FY2024

A total ofcases
by FY2024

A total ofcompanies
by FY2024(1 billion yen as of 2018)(starts in November 2019)(a total of 75 companies in 2018)10(2018: 3.4 billion yen per year)

5

Number of startup visas
issued in Hokkaido

40

Number of startups fromuniversities in Hokkaido

150

Sapporo/Hokkaido Startup Ecosystem Promotion Council 2024 Vision
An ecosystem that can bechallenged for any number of times

Support forvisualizing R&D seeds

Finding and attracting
managerial talent

Realizing a citywhere ideas can be tested easily

Active social implementation andpromotion of open innovation

Establishment of a citywith global human resources

Growth support for
the Agri/Food/Green-Tech sectors

Develop options wherespace startups can become active

Develop abundant funding options
based on the stage

Enhancement ofprivate sector supporters

01

Summary of the Ecosystem Building Plan
2. Organizations and Roles of each organizations

Government and local government■ Deregulation and provision of demonstrationﬁelds for the introduction of advanced services■ Implementation of a government type of open

innovation through collaboration with startups■ Human resource development of specialists,such as professionals who specialize in startups■ Implement entrepreneurship education forBusiness and economic organizations

Universities and researchers■ Provision of resources to speed up hypothesis veriﬁcation■ Revealing hidden research seeds and supporting socialimplementations■ Provision of collaboration opportunities with many diﬀerent
private partners■ Attracting and ﬁnding top-quality managerial talent■ Providing entrepreneurship education and community■ Scale support utilizing corporate sales and sales channels

building in cooperation with universities in Hokkaido■ Providing scale support partners and demonstration ﬁelds■ Construction of a rapid GAP funding support scheme foruniversity-launched startups that are in the seed stagefor startups in primary industry

the young generation
・Sapporo Chamber of Commerce
・Hokkaido Association of Corporate Executives
・Hokkaido Economic Federation

・Sapporo・Ebetsu・Obihiro・Hakodate

・Sapporo City University ・Hokkaido University
・Future University Hakodate ・Hokkaido Research InstituteUtilize Hokkaido resources or Hokkaido-based startups
Supporting global scale
Financial institutions, VCs, and investors

Supporting organizations■ Fund formation supporting startups in the primary andspace industries
Incorporation of domestic and international investors■ Accelerators that are specialized in ﬁelds that utilize Hokkaido assets, including its■ Development of a ﬁnancing environment that supports

companies in the seed period (Debt/Equity)

Advisory organizations

primary industries■ Program enticement■ Interests in startups that use Hokkaido assets, including its primary industries■ Attract VCs, CVCs, and companies■ Establishment of a support system for startups to reach a global scale■ Dispatch of managerial talents to R&D-type startups■ Construction of a support menu that connects researchers and entrepreneurs to■ Development of ﬁnancing environment development

the global community■ Summary of national startup support

options and information sharing■ Promote the utilization of startup visasand exit support according to the stage

・Sapporo Stock Exchange・Sapporo Founders Fund・Japan Finance Corporation・Development Bank of Japan・Hokuyo Bank・Hokkaido Bank・Hokkaido Venture Capital

・Sapporo AI Lab・Sapporo Area Regional Data Utilization Organization・Sapporo Industrial Promotion Foundation
・SAPPORO BI LAB・National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Hokkaido Center・D2Garage
・New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization
・Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation Hokkaido Main Oﬃce
・Japan External Trade Organization Hokkaido Trade Information Center・Food Valley Tokachi Promotion Council
・NoMaps Executive Committee・Hokkaido Information and Communication Technology Association
・Northern Advancement Center for Science & Technology

・Hokkaido Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industryof the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
・Ministry of Internal Aﬀairs and Communications
Hokkaido Bureau of Telecommunications

02

Summary of the Ecosystem Building Plan
3. Leaders of the Ecosystem

Universities and research institutions

Private sector and entrepreneurs

Financial institutions and VCs

Taku Nakahara

Takuya Irisawa

Toshifumi Murata

Nitobe College Fellow,
Hokkaido University

Representative of Ecomott

Representative ofSapporo Funders Fund

Joined as the founding member of a life science startup in theUnited States in collaboration with a Japanese pharmaceuticalcompany. Leading of industry-academia collaborations, megacompany-startup collaborations, in-house entrepreneurshipprojects, startup investments, etc.

Founded an IoT/AI startup "Ecomott" in 2007. Listed on theSSE Ambitious in 2017, and listed on TSE Mothers in 2018.
Representative of "STARS", a startup support organization.

Started his business while studying at graduate school andfounded several IT startups. One of them was listed in 2002,
from which he then exited. Formed the Sapporo Founders
Fund in 2017, which is a group of angel investors that haveinvested in six startups up to now.

Government / Municipality

Supporting organizations

Supporting organizations

Kyohei Fujima
STARTUP CITY SAPPORO Secretariat

Masaaki Abe

Takeshi Hirose

Sapporo City Economics andTourism Bureau

Secretary-General ofNoMaps

Has established extensive networks with private companies as
the section head responsible for NoMaps and Startup City
Sapporo.
He has a wealth of experience in tourism and ﬁnance and is akey player in supporting startups in Sapporo.

Joined a private think tank after working for a private company.
Has been involved in local revitalization projects for local
governments in Hokkaido for 10 years.
Participated in the launching of NoMaps in 2016 and plays therole of a business coordinator. Has been in his current position
since April 2017.

Moved to Digital Garage after working in the sales
planning department at Hokkaido Shimbun Press.
Launched a seed accelerator program Open Network
Lab HOKKAIDO in 2018. Currently focuses on open
innovation projects for private companies and startups.

Mina Akasaka
Open Network Lab HOKKAIDO Secretariat
Was assigned to Digital Garage from Hokkaido Shimbun
Press in 2018. From 2019, led a seed accelerator program"Open Network Lab HOKKAIDO" at D2Garage.
Has fostered 10 startups so far.

03