Tokyo's small-business promotion foundation has opened applications for a grant that pays half of the cost of technical studies done before a product enters full research and development, capped at ¥1mn. The window runs from 28 October to 18 November 2026, closing at 17:00, and applications go through the national J-Grants portal.
What the grant pays for
The minimum application is ¥100,000. The rate is up to one-half of eligible costs, rounded down to the nearest thousand yen, and money is paid only after the project is finished and has passed the foundation's inspection and review.
Two cost categories qualify: raw and auxiliary materials, and outsourcing or subcontracting fees. The second is mandatory. Applicants must book at least one of commissioned work, subcontracted work or joint-research costs, and the study must draw on outside resources such as other companies, universities or test laboratories. An application for materials alone is refused, as is one for market research alone. Market research is capped at ¥250,000.
What is excluded
The programme targets work done before development begins. Studies that are essentially finished at application, or that already sit in the product-development stage, are outside it, as are mass-production technology and basic research. Spending on machinery, tools, prototype dies and software, on certification or standards, on intellectual-property filings and on direct labour is also excluded.
The foundation says the grant is not a guarantee of a product's superiority or soundness.
Who can apply and when money moves
Eligible applicants are Tokyo small and medium-sized companies and sole proprietors, small-business associations, groups of such firms applying jointly, and people planning to start a business in Tokyo. Companies must have a registered head office or branch in Tokyo on the reference date of 1 October 2026, and generally a year of operating there.
Document screening is scheduled for December and January, a comprehensive review for early February, and award decisions for late February 2027. The grant period then runs from 1 March 2027 to 29 February 2028, at most one year, and the technical study must be completed inside it. Costs incurred before 1 March, including those paid before applying, do not count. The schedule may change, according to the guidelines.
The grant notice sets out the per-project cap but gives no total programme budget or number of awards.