As part of the Japanese Government's "New Capitalism" economic policy, a proposal for a national project — the Global Start-up Campus (GSC) — was released by the Cabinet on 31 May 2024.

Thanks to the efforts of the start-up support and VC industry, domestic VC investment has increased over the past decade, but this has not matched the speed of growth in overseas start-up ecosystems — and the gap is widening. Japanese start-ups are not expanding globally and the number of unicorn companies is low.

The GSC initiative aims to solve global social issues and grow the domestic economy through collaboration with overseas universities, and promotes innovation and start-up ecosystem building in the deep tech sector. Construction of the flagship centre will be built on state-owned land in Tokyo's Shibuya and Meguro wards in 2028, with laboratories, facilities, and exhibition and event space.

The initiative aims to change the current situation where post-doctoral and PhD students at Japanese universities rarely become start-up management talents. The proposal includes four functions:

- Establishing innovative research themes that attract the world's best young researchers and investors.
- Supporting intellectual property and commercialization with a view to social implementation.
- Implementation of practical fellowship programs to develop researchers with an entrepreneurial mindset.
- Formation of a community where researchers, business people and VC personnel can share ideas and experiences related to deep tech.

The GSC concept is being fleshed out with the aim of Japan becoming the “hub of the world's best innovation ecosystem” and is seen as an important step in promoting the creation and growth of start-ups.

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