INTELLIGENNE
Japan has placed domestic investment at the origin of its growth policy.
We design the route by which your technology and capital land as investment inside Japan.
WHO THIS PAGE IS FOR
Overseas companies considering entry into the Japanese market, and their Japanese subsidiaries. Japanese companies seeking to adopt technology from abroad. And local governments that want to invite that technology into their region.
The obstacles we hear are always the same. No local counterpart can be found. It is unclear which government office to approach. Public support appears to exist, but no call for applications can be located. Conversations progress, but no decision is ever signed.
All of these come down to a single point. There is no one standing between Japan's public programmes and the field. That is where we stand.
domestic investment as the starting point250 trillion yen by FY2040strategic industrial policyJapan Growth StrategyRegional Future Strategygrowth potential lies in the regionsa government that opens the way to realizationpredictabilitymulti-year plansCommittee on Foreign Investment in Japansupply chainshuman-resource development ecosystemindustrial agglomerationOkinawa development as national strategy264.7 billion yen Okinawa budget
WHY NOW
On 27 July 2026, at the press conference marking the close of the special session of the Diet, the government set out its direction. Below we quote the words as spoken, and set beside each one what it means in practice and what we can do about it.
THE STARTING POINT
To put Japan on a “growth trajectory” with “domestic investment as the starting point.”
Japan has placed domestic investment at the origin of its growth policy. Investment taking place inside the country is itself the policy objective. The statement itself does not address whether that investment comes from domestic or foreign capital. Our reading is that what is being tested is whether the investment takes place in Japan.
THE WORDS, AND OUR ANSWER
to put Japan on a “growth trajectory” with “domestic investment as the starting point”
「国内投資を起点」として日本を「成長軌道」に乗せる
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
Japan has placed domestic investment at the origin of its growth policy. Investment taking place inside Japan is itself the objective. The statement itself does not address whether that investment comes from domestic or foreign capital.
We restructure your plan so that overseas technology and capital land as investment inside Japan — not as import-and-resell, but so that equipment, employment and technology transfer remain in the country. Whether your project takes that shape determines which public programmes are open to you.
By FY2040, we aim for 250 trillion yen in domestic private capital investment and a GDP approaching 1,100 trillion yen.
２０４０年度に、２５０兆円の国内民間設備投資、１，１００兆円に迫る「ＧＤＰ（国内総生産）」を目指します。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
The Prime Minister explained that this figure reflects the business community adding 50 trillion yen to its previous 200 trillion yen target. The target therefore rests on private capital investment being made.
We turn part of that target into an actual project in Okinawa. A project shaped to fit the objectives of that policy is easier to place on a public programme than one that is not. Shaping it is our work.
The advanced economies had made a major shift from “leaving things to the market” to a “strategic industrial policy” pursued through public–private cooperation.
先進各国は「市場任せ」から官民で連携した「戦略的な産業政策」へと大きく舵（かじ）を切っていました。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
In our experience this shifts the practical entrance to the Japanese market from finding a business partner toward taking part in the plans drawn up by national and local government. Being present while a plan is written affects the conditions that follow.
We work with municipalities before the plan takes shape, and design the structure of the project itself. Rather than joining a finished plan, we place you on the side that writes it.
Rather than saying “it cannot be done because there is no precedent,” where a measure is necessary we will break through the walls of existing systems and precedent, and become a “government that opens the way to realization.”
「前例がないからできない」ではなく、必要な施策であれば制度や前例の壁を越え、「実現への道を切り拓（ひら）く政府」へと変わります。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
Bringing overseas technology into a Japanese region often has no close precedent. The government says it will break that wall. Even so, deciding which programme carries which part of the project is left to you — and a single concept almost always spans several programmes.
We break the concept into components and assign each to the national programme that fits it: which part goes where, who is the applying entity, and in what order approvals are obtained. In our experience, selection turns on that structure rather than on the wording of the application. This is the core of our work.
There is the Committee on Foreign Investment in Japan, which has already been established and has held its first meeting.
既に設置し第一回が開催された「対日外国投資委員会」があります。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative. The English name of the committee is a tentative rendering.
It would not be honest to present only the welcoming side. In the same press conference the Prime Minister also referred to the establishment on 31 July of a national intelligence council and a national intelligence bureau, and cited the outflow of advanced technology and cyber attacks as real and present threats. Japan is strengthening both the invitation of investment and the scrutiny of what enters.
Ahead of any government review, we verify the provenance of the technology and the composition of the capital. Where doubt remains, we do not bring the case to a programme. The decision to admit a project rests with the state, not with us; our role is a first-stage check only. Holding that line is precisely what makes a sound case easier to pass.
I am determined to promote Okinawa development measures comprehensively and proactively, as a national strategy, toward realizing a strong Okinawan economy.
強い沖縄経済の実現に向けまして、国家戦略としての沖縄振興策を総合的・積極的に推進してまいる、その決意でございます。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (questions from the press). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
In the same exchange it was stated that 264.7 billion yen has been secured for Okinawa development in the FY2026 initial budget, and that an expert committee is deliberating the five-year review of the Okinawa Development Special Measures Act, aiming for a conclusion within this fiscal year. Okinawa has public funding that exists only for Okinawa, and the framework itself is under review this year.
The Okinawa Specified Project Promotion Fund carries a FY2026 budget of 9.5 billion yen with a subsidy rate of up to 80 percent. Article 3 of its grant guideline for private-sector projects defines eligible recipients simply as “private business operators,” placing no restriction on nationality, capital composition, shareholders or governing law of incorporation (verified against the original text on 28 July 2026). The absence of such a restriction in the text is not the same as eligibility: certification by the municipality and review by the Cabinet Office decide each case. We design the route by which a Japanese entity reaches this funding.
Rather than one-off support, under multi-year plans and with the government walking alongside, we aim for wide-area, high-quality “industrial agglomeration” — from “supply chains” to building a “human-resource development ecosystem.”
単発の支援ではなく、複数年計画の下、政府が伴走支援しながら、「サプライチェーン」から「人材育成エコシステム」の構築まで、広域かつ質の高い「産業集積」を目指します。
Press conference of Prime Minister TAKAICHI Sanae, 27 July 2026 (opening statement). English rendering by INTELLIGENNE; the Japanese text is authoritative.
What the state seeks is not a project that ends when the equipment is installed, but an agglomeration that includes supply chains and the development of people. For the entering company too, a business does not last unless local suppliers and local staff grow with it.
We build local participation and workforce development into the plan from the outset. We do not take on projects where the technology arrives but no one is trained. A business takes root only when people are trained in Okinawa and local suppliers are in place.
HOW WE WORK
We confirm the provenance of the technology and the composition of the capital first. Where doubt remains, we do not take the case to a programme. The decision to admit a project rests with the state; our role is a first-stage check only.
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The applying entity is normally a Japanese legal entity: a local subsidiary, or a joint venture or consortium formed with local companies. Awards in FY2025 under this fund included several associations and consortia alongside ordinary companies.
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This fund has no open call for applications. What the Cabinet Office publishes is the grant guideline, an outline of the scheme, and the award results. The entrance is certification by the mayor of the municipality. A company that waits for a public tender is unlikely to find this route.
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The award decision is the starting line. Performance reporting, management of acquired assets, revenue remittance and evaluation against stated targets all follow. The guideline restricts disposal of assets worth 500,000 yen or more even after completion. We set these conditions out before you commit, not afterwards.
WHAT WE DO NOT TAKE ON
Company incorporation, residence status, translation and real-estate brokerage. These belong to specialists and we refer them on. What we take on is forming the partnership with the municipality, connecting the project to public funding, securing a site for demonstration, managing the project after the award, and the verification carried out before anything is brought to a programme.
ABOUT US
Japan's public support programmes grow more numerous and more finely divided every year, while a single project almost always spans several of them. Deciding which part belongs to which programme is a task that sits with neither the municipal department nor the company holding the technology. In that gap, projects that could have existed quietly disappear each year.
INTELLIGENNE stands in that gap. We do not ghost-write applications. We build the structure of the project: which component goes to which programme, who is the applying entity, and in what order approvals are obtained. In our experience, selection turns on that structure.
We have 32 cumulative awards and support engagements under national and prefectural programmes. In FY2026, a project in which our representative is named as application coordinator on the application itself was newly selected under the private-sector track of the Okinawa Specified Project Promotion Fund and has received its grant decision.
We are based in Okinawa and work across Japan.
CONTACT
Before you commit budget, before you register a company, before you look for a site — talk to us first. The earlier we are involved, the more of the structure can still be designed.
“We want to enter Japan but do not know where to begin.” “We want to work with a municipality but have no connection.” “We would like to know whether any programme applies to us.” Enquiries at this stage are exactly the ones we welcome. Correspondence in English is fine.
Email: info[at]intelligenne.jp
INTELLIGENNE (Okinawa Smart Energy Project) | Okinawa, Japan | https://intelligenne.jp
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