Industry-Government-Academia-Finance Co-Creation Event Aimed at Fostering Academic Startups in Fukui Prefecture
"FUKUI Interdisciplinary Fes. 2025" organized by TeSH

Date and Time: Monday, August 25, 2025, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM,
Venue: Hotel Fujita Fukui, "Ten-zan no Ma" (3rd Floor)
Organizers: Tech Startup HOKURIKU (TeSH), University of Fukui, Fukui Prefectural University, Fukui University of Technology, and National Institute of Technology, Fukui College

In February 2024, TeSH was selected as one of the nine platforms for the JST’s “Startup Ecosystem Co-Creation Program for the New Industry Creation Fund for University Startups.” Our mission is to dramatically improve both the quality and quantity of academic startups in the Hokuriku region. Now, a year and a half since our launch, we have begun implementing initiatives to deepen regionally rooted collaboration among industry, government, academia, and finance—engaging local governments, startup support organizations, local businesses, financial institutions, and alumni throughout the Hokuriku area. The first of these initiatives is the FUKUI Interdisciplinary Fes. 2025 (FIF2025).

The event attracted a total of 154 participants, including 33 from private companies, 16 from prefectural and municipal governments, 18 from financial institutions and venture capital firms, 77 from academic institutions, and 10 from the media and others.
After opening remarks from the presidents and principals of three universities and one technical college, and an explanation of the purpose of FIF2025 by the TeSH program head of directors, three promising alumni startup managers representing Fukui shared their founding stories and business overviews.

• Mr. FUKUNO, President of jig.jp and an alumnus of Fukui College, shared that he has started providing financial support this year to young entrepreneurs in Sabae. He also noted that it has been 15 years since he began his “one app per day” initiative, and the total number of apps is soon expected to reach 5,000.
• Mr. Iwai, President of ALL CONNECT and an alumnus of Fukui University of Technology, shared a surprising story: coincidentally, his first business was an employment management system for part-time workers at Hotel Fujita Fukui, where the event took place.
• Mr. Matsuda, President of Natural Style and an alumnus of the University of Fukui, shared the story behind the development of his “agricultural robot business,” which began with renting his family's rice fields—originally a farming household—to monitor pesticide-free cultivation practices.

In the second half of the event, the cooperating organizations—the Fukui Industrial Support Center, the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), and Fukui Capital Partners—presented their activities. Following this, the program co-directors from the three universities and one technical college introduced their startup support initiatives. They also highlighted the achievements of Professor Fujita (University of Fukui), Professor Tahara (Fukui Prefectural University), and Professor Ogoshi (Fukui College), who were selected for the TeSH Gap Fund Program.
The final session featured five seeds recommended by the three universities and one technical college, presented through a total of 20 three-minute pitches. All 20 presenters were prospective applicants for the upcoming Gap Fund. Despite it being their first experience with a three-minute pitch, each of them delivered clear, enthusiastic presentations within the time limit.
At the networking held from 5:00 p.m. following the conclusion of FIF2025, six outstanding presenters from the 20 pitches were recognized with awards. The certificates were presented by President Kakeshita of Fukui University of Technology and Principal Hasegawa of Fukui College.

At the closing of the event, Associate Professor Nakata, Program Co-Director of TeSH at JAIST, concluded: “FIF2025, TeSH’s first initiative, was a great success thanks to the dedicated efforts of staff from the three universities and one technical college that organized the event, with over 150 attendees from industry, government, academia, and financial institutions. On September 26, we will hold the next event, TOYAMA Interdisciplinary Fes. 2025 (TIF2025) in Toyama Prefecture.”

TeSH will continue to organize industry-government-academia-finance co-creation events in rotation across the three Hokuriku prefectures to leverage its strength as a regional platform.