Japan to Create Ministry to Promote Startups, Says PM

Business startups in Japan will be the under the responsibility of a dedicated ministry, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.

He told a meeting of business leaders that he had “high expectations for startups” as engines of economic growth.

“Many large companies began their history as startups, Kishida said. “We will formulate a five-year plan by the end of the year with a view to increasing the number of startups by 10 times over five years.”

Kishida said the government wanted to share risks associated with “bold investments” in innovation. “Furthermore, I would like to appoint a new minister in charge of startups.”

Speaking at the Keidanren Summer Forum 2022, the prime minister said he would also create a ministry of decarbonisation.

“We will prepare an unprecedented support system that sparks long-term, large-scale private investments in decarbonisation,” he said.

Kishida’s predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, said in 2020 that Japan aimed to be carbon neutral by 2050, and said steps to address climate change should been seen not as constraints to economic growth but as a growth driver.

George Russell, with Reuters

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George Russell

George Russell is a freelance writer and editor based in Hong Kong who has lived in Asia since 1996. His work has been published in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Post, Variety, Forbes and the South China Morning Post.