Japan's third public call for the SME Growth Acceleration Subsidy carries a prerequisite that can eat into an applicant's preparation time. A company's "¥10bn declaration" must already be published on the program's growth portal when it applies.
What the round requires
The JGrants listing says the third round requires the declaration to be published on the portal at the time of the subsidy application. It adds that publication procedures usually take two to three weeks, and urges anyone considering an application to start the declaration early. The declaration is one of the eligibility requirements. Applicants must meet all of the requirements set out in the public call guidelines.
The listing sends applicants to the growth portal for the latest guidelines, application forms and FAQs.
The policy logic
The program backs small and medium-sized companies making bold investments toward future sales of ¥10bn. The listing argues that companies of that size generally pay higher wages, win export demand and ripple through supply chains, so they weigh more heavily on regional economies. It frames the subsidy against wage growth and domestic investment at their highest in 30 years, while many smaller firms still face rising prices and labor shortages.
Practical filing points
Applications go through JGrants, which lists supported browsers: Chrome, Firefox and Edge on Windows, Chrome, Firefox and Safari on macOS, and Chrome on Android. Edge's Internet Explorer mode and other browsers can cause errors. Text fields should avoid double quotation marks, commas and tab characters, which can slip in when text is pasted from a website.
Information submitted will be used under the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency's project data-use policy, and applying is treated as consent to that use.