Japan to Set Special Aid Category for Community-Based Startups

Tokyo, May 30 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s internal affairs ministry plans to set a special category under its existing support program for community-based startups, in order to back up projects using artificial intelligence. The ministry aims to promote so-called AI transformation, in which companies reform themselves by placing AI at the center. It will request related funds under the central government’s fiscal 2027 budget. Under the new category, the central and local governments will provide aid to regional companies that launch new businesses using unsecured loans from regional financial institutions to help curb the initial costs, including for facility construction and equipment purchases. The central government will provide special tax grants to local governments as resources for their aid to such businesses. A larger amount of loans from local financial institutions will lead to greater aid from the central and local governments. The aid cap per project for fiscal 2026 will be set at 30 million yen to 55 million yen. As one of the projects selected in fiscal 2025 under the support program, a whisky distillery in the town of Tobetsu in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido is working to improve productivity by raising the prediction accuracy for blending results using AI for data analysis. The planned special category is expected to support such initiatives. At a meeting of the central government’s Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy in April, internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi announced a plan to promote regional AI transformation. The ministry aims to include regional AI transformation in the government’s new Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform, which will be adopted later this year. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]