Are you wanting to open a R&D center but fear you may run into some financial constraints? Sapporo City in Hokkaido, Japan can provide you with support to raise sufficient funds to open your own center and help your business thrive!

If you’re not quite ready to open a R&D center just yet, Sapporo City also has other subsidy programs geared towards helping you launch your R&D-focused startup by supporting your initial office space opening costs.

This article will discuss available subsidies for setting up facilities in the Sapporo area, such as testing and R&D facilities, factories, data centers, and more!

This subsidy program provides financial assistance to startups that make capital investments in land, buildings, and depreciable assets to build new or additional testing, research, and development facilities, factories, logistics facilities, data centers, and others in the Sapporo area.

Overview of Subsidy Groups:

1. Newly Established Startups within Sapporo City

• Priority facilities or priority areas
• Can receive a maximum subsidy amount of 1 billion JPY
• Must have made a capital investment, excluding land, of 100 million JPY or more.
• Will be given 20% of standard tax base amount of fixed property/assets (land, house, depreciable assets)

2. Startups Pursuing New Construction, Expansion, and/or Relocation within Sapporo City

• Newly established startups that are not priority facilities or in priority areas
• Can receive a maximum of 500 million JPY
• Must have made a capital investment, excluding land, of 100 million JPY or more.
• Will be given 10% of standard tax base amount of fixed property/assets (land, house, depreciable assets)

3. Newly Established Startups in the Sapporo area (outside of the city)

• Priority facilities
• Can receive a maximum of 500 million JPY (up to the amount subsidized by the local government where the project is located)
• Must have made a capital investment, excluding land, of 300 million JPY or more.
• Will be given 10% of standard tax base amount of fixed property/assets (houses and depreciable assets)

Sapporo City Subsidy for Equipment Investment Promotion:

Requirements and Details:

Applicable Areas of Business: Sapporo Area

• Sapporo
• Otaru
• Iwamizawa
• Ebetsu
• Chitose
• Eniwa
• Kitahiroshima
• Ishikari
• Tobetsu
• Nanporo

Target Industries

• Manufacturing
• Information and communications
• Transportation
• Wholesale and retail
• Academic research
• Professional and technical services

Target Facilities

⇒ within the Target Industries (listed above)

• Testing, research and development facilities
• Factories
• Logistics facilities
• Data centers

Priority Facilities

⇒ within the Target Industries (listed above) of Relevant Fields (listed below)

• Testing, research and development facilities
• Factories
• Human resource training facility
• Data centers

Food-related Field:

• Foods, Functional foods, etc

Advanced Technology Field:

Health and medical care

• Pharmaceuticals
• Medical devices
• Biotechnology

Environment and energy

• Renewable energy
• New energy
• Storage batteries
• Next-generation vehicles, etc.

Robotics and others

• Robotics
• Aerospace
• High temperature superconductivity
• Nanotechnology
• High-performance materials

Subsidy System Overview:

Priority Areas

⇒ Sapporo Techno Park, Sapporo Hi-Tech Hill, Higashikariki District 2

• Land, buildings, and depreciable assets subject to property tax arising from new construction, expansion or relocation within the city are eligible.

However, land acquired six months prior to the application is not eligible.

• The subsidy amount for houses and depreciable assets of specified distribution facilities will be calculated based on an assessed value of the fixed asset, not the tax base amount.
• In the case of expansion or relocation within the city, the subsidy amount will be calculated based on the increase in the tax base amount of the fixed property tax (specified distribution business facilities will be assessed at the fixed asset value) for houses and depreciable assets.

Other Requirements:

• Capital investment must involve the construction of a new or additional building, acquisition, or lease. (expansion or renewal of machinery and equipment alone is not eligible)
• The startup (or its parent company) must have been in operation for at least one year.
• The applicant must continue to operate at the facility for a period of at least 10 years starting from the first year in which the subsidy is received.

Application Procedures and Notes:

• The startup must consult with the city of Sapporo before announcing capital investment plans.
• Application must be made prior to the start of construction, acquisition, or execution of a lease agreement for the house.

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