Is this school a breeding ground for unicorns? Japan thinks so
The Land of the Rising Sun has shone on big corporations but start-ups have largely remained in the shadows. Now, the mayor of Japan’s youngest city, Fukuoka, is changing that – starting with an incubator in a old school
A short stroll from a high street in Fukuoka, Japan’s aspiring start-up hub, stands a nearly century-old junior school building. The pupils are long gone, part of an exodus of families from the city centre who left in search of more peaceful surroundings in the suburbs.
But the building is far from lifeless. It still buzzes with the creative energy that is often associated with youth – thanks to its rebirth last year as Fukuoka Growth Next, a public-private facility that serves as an incubator for start-up businesses.
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“Our vision is to create future unicorns,” Yasunari Tanaka, the director of Fukuoka Growth Next, says, referring to the term for start-ups valued at US$1 billion or more.
While Japan is well known for the success of its giant corporations, such as Sony and Honda, the country has struggled to develop start-up companies and has lagged far behind China and the United States. In fact, Japan has produced only one unicorn, Mercari, an app for selling second-hand goods.
Officials and entrepreneurs in Fukuoka are trying to change that.
Inside the Fukuoka Growth Next facility, the “start-up cafe” invites people to pitch business ideas. Its “concierges” are there to offer consulting services, as well as lawyers and accountants to offer advice – often on weekends and late into evenings. The warm atmosphere has led to a soaring number of consultations.
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A former home economics classroom has been remodelled as a do-it-yourself laboratory boasting a 3D printer while the old cafeteria has been converted into a bar where people can meet and share ideas. The facility holds seminars for start-ups, inviting well-known investors and entrepreneurs, attracting young yet ambitious locals.
