Nagoya's Vision for a Manufacturing-led Startup Future - Toshio Sumi (City of Nagoya)

Nagoya, Japan's manufacturing heartland, is building a new startup ecosystem. We interviewed Toshio Sumi, the first director of the Startup Support Division established five years ago, about initiatives to foster regional innovation.

Career Background

Could you tell us about your career and how you became involved in startup support?

After joining Nagoya City Hall, I initially worked on university-industry collaboration. Later, at the Economic Affairs Bureau, I was involved in industrial promotion, managing incubation facilities, organizing the 2017 RoboCup World Championship and promoting IoT policies.

About ten years ago, I began working on regional innovation initiatives with the Chubu Economic Federation and Nagoya University, participating in the establishment of NAGOYA INNOVATOR'S GARAGE in 2019.

In 2020, the current Startup Support Division was established and Nagoya City became the secretariat for the CENTRAL JAPAN STARTUP ECOSYSTEM CONSORTIUM, where I serve as the effective coordinator promoting industry-academia-government collaboration for  this region.

Nagoya's Startup Support Features

What are the distinctive characteristics of Nagoya's startup support?

We currently have four main pillars:

The First pillar is human resource development. We provide entrepreneurship education from elementary to high school students, and run 'Tongali,' Japan's largest entrepreneurship program for  universities, with over 5,000 participants annually. While our region traditionally favors large corporations, we aim to nurture entrepreneurial spirit from an early age.

The Second pillar is open innovation. Leveraging our concentration of global companies, we actively promote connections between established companies and startups. Our 'NAGOYA CITY LAB' initiative uses the entire city as an innovation testing ground, expanding from three areas to six  this year.

The Third pillar is globalization. We focus on supporting Nagoya-based startups' overseas expansion through Silicon Valley entrepreneur training programs and pitch events. We're particularly strong in manufacturing-related fields and AgriTech.

The Fourth pillar is financial support. We contribute towards  funds in cooperation with the prefecture, including a recent 5 billion yen deep-tech fund centered around Nagoya University. We also offer subsidy programs for IT and foreign companies, including office support.

Ecosystem Development

How are you focusing on building connections between startups?

Our primary focus is establishing a solid foundation for the ecosystem. Ten years ago, many people hadn't even heard the term 'startup,' and entrepreneurs tended to choose Tokyo over Nagoya. Now, our startup ecosystem has matured to the point where companies can grow completely within our region, including foreign companies.

A major characteristic is our strong industry-academia-government collaboration. Our consortium is highly regarded nationally for these strong connections. We have robust industry support and Japan's largest entrepreneurship education platform at universities, resulting in many successful university-based startups.

For example, Tier IV, a university startup, has been nurturing the next generation, leading towards the emergence of companies like J-Startup, founded by people who learned there. Since 2020, the number of startups in Aichi Prefecture has grown significantly, with some achieving major success - Tier IV's valuation exceeds 100 billion yen, and SkyDrive has secured almost 10 billion yen in funding.

Regional Characteristics

What are the characteristics of entrepreneurs in Nagoya, especially those from overseas?

As Japan's largest industrial cluster, we attract startups primarily interested in manufacturing innovation and industrial collaboration. Entrepreneurs focus mainly on manufacturing-related fields, including mobility, IoT, and aerospace.

We're also seeing services emerging that leverage regional characteristics, such as services for foreign workers in manufacturing companies.

Recently, we've been promoting ourselves as the 'Homeland of Mobility 5.0' internationally, establishing our position as a hub for next-generation mobility. Nagoya-born innovations are gaining global recognition, with companies like Tier IV seeing their systems adopted worldwide.

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International Response

How has the international community responded to these initiatives?

We're seeing growing interest from overseas, particularly from Asian regions. When we explain about our concentration of major corporations, many express strong interest in coming here. The international response has been very positive.

Message to Future Entrepreneurs

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What advice would you give to those considering starting a business in Nagoya?

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Nagoya is a hub of Japanese technology, and we'd love to have you come here so we can grow startups together. One major advantage is our proximity to Tokyo. I think many people coming from overseas want to visit Tokyo as well. However, Nagoya, being Japan's largest manufacturing hub, has very different specialties and markets compared to Tokyo. There are many things you can do in Nagoya that you can't do in Tokyo. When there's an event in Nagoya, you can easily stop by Tokyo, and vice versa. Having the market in this region while maintaining easy access to Tokyo is a significant advantage.

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Editor's Note

Through Mr. Sumi's interview, we strongly felt Nagoya City's manufacturing strengths and the evolution of startup support based on this foundation. In particular, the "Homeland of Mobility 5.0" branding reflects a global perspective that transcends regional boundaries. Additionally, their support system, centered on the four pillars, is built on multifaceted measures that leverage Nagoya's unique strength in industry-academia-government collaboration, promoting university-launched startups and open innovation. We sincerely hope that innovations from Nagoya will play a crucial role in shaping the future of global industry.

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