Final Round

News

November 16, 2023
After the final round, this years winners were decided

August 28, 2023
S-Booster 2023 Final Round page has been added

June 12, 2023
S-Booster 2023 applications officially closed

April 07, 2023
S-Booster 2023 Application starts at April 7th

March 01, 2023
S-Booster 2023 Official Announcement(PDF)

About

S-Booster is a space-based business idea contest for ventures, individuals, and businesses in different industries in Japan and the Asia-Oceania region that aim to commercialize their business ideas utilizing "space”(*1).

Excellent ideas will be supported for commercialization through mentoring by experts.
In addition, S-Booster will provide finalists with opportunities matching to investors and business companies, as well as support by awarding cash prizes for commercialization, when finalists present their business ideas at the Final Round.

(*1) Not only businesses in space such as rockets, satellites and commercial space stations, but also businesses on the ground utilizing space assets such as satellite data and technology are eligible.



Application Period

Tuesday, April 07, 2023 - Monday, June 12, 2023 5:00 p.m. JST

Prizes

Schedule

* In principle, Asia/Oceania region entrants will participate online.
* Formats and schedules may be changed as necessary.

How to apply

Make sure to read the Application Guidelines for details about application.

Eligibility
Individuals or teams in Japan and the Asia-Oceania region may apply the contest.
(People not of legal age must apply as part of a team with adults).

* Applicants must intend to commercialize their idea.
* Ideas that have already received funding from an institutional investor are not accepted. (Ideas funded by an angel investor are accepted).
Themes

- Applications are accepted from Japan and the Asia-Oceania region for new business ideas using space-related assets.
- These ideas can be already verified, or can be technologies to be created in the future, etc.

1) Space-based business ideas*
2) Business ideas based on the themes proposed by sponsors

* Applications from the Asia-Oceania region must include collaboration with Japan.
Examples) Collaboration with Japanese companies, organizations, etc.
Using Japanese space equipment and space systems (Quasi-Zenith Satellite System [QZSS]; Tellus; launch vehicles, satellites, services, etc. of Japanese institutes and companies), etc.

Please refer to the Application

S-Booster 2023 Application Guidelines (PDF)

Download Word file of "Appendix: Application Information Review Form"

If the representative has Japanese nationality, please apply HERE. *Japanese site

Themes proposed by Sponsors (In Japanese alphabetical order) (Click to see details)


ANA HOLDINGS INC.

Shiseido Company, Limited

SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation

Sony Group Corporation

Honda R&D Co., Ltd.

MITSUI & CO., LTD.

Yokogawa Electric Corporation

LocationMind Inc.

Message from Sponsors

S-Booster Executive Committee

Host Asia Region

Mentors (In Japanese alphabetical order of surnames)

ja : Available for Japanese mentoring en : Available for English mentoring


Space Business Evangelist
Hidetaka Aoki
jaen

CO-WORKS
Tsutomu Iijima
ja

WERU Investment
Kiichiro DeLuca
ja

SOMPO Light Vortex Inc.
Executive VP
Takashi Uehara
ja

Micro Manufacturing Association
Kenichi Uchida
ja

Nakamura Tsunoda & Matsumoto / Japan Space Law Association
Hinata Oshima
ja

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Tetsuji Odan
ja

ABBALab Inc.
Osamu Ogasawara
ja

TX Entrepreneur Partners
Noriaki Ozaki
jaen

Real Tech Holdings Co.,Ltd.
Taro Kinoshita
jaen

Marubeni Corporation
Hiromi Kurokawa
ja

01Booster Inc. CEO
George Goda
jaen

JMA Consultants Inc.
Susumu Kondo
ja

Rasen Global Ventures Co.Ltd.
Kiyotaka Sakakibara
jaen

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC
Masayuki Sakata
jaen

O₂ Partners Inc.
Naoto Sano
ja

Nihon Saisei Inc.
Kenji Sumi
ja

Plug and Play Japan
Ventures Analyst
Yoshitake Sohma
jaen

D4V
Fumiaki Nagase
jaen

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Ai NEMOTO
ja

OpenCrucible LLC.
Takeshi Hamachi
jaen

Hagaminomori Design
Norishige Hayakawa
jaen

DIVER Technology Corporation
Tatsuo Fukui
ja

SARR, LLC / BGV
Ikkei Matsuda
jaen

Innovation Coordinator of AIST
Masato Miyake
jaen

Mori Hamada & Matsumoto
Daisuke Mosaka
ja

Willsame Co., Ltd. COO
Akira Yanagihara
ja

Uchida & Samejima Law Firm
Tomonari Yamasaki
ja

PwC Business Assurance LLC
Kenji Yoshida
ja

FAQ

About S-Booster

It was held for the first time in 2017. 2023 is the sixth contest.

S-Booster is hosted by the Cabinet Office of Japan, and is run by the Executive Committee composed of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).

The "S" in S-Booster stands for four things: it is part of S-NET's activities (*), and signifies the Startup of Space-based ideas and their future Success. In addition, "Booster" expresses our hope that this contest will function as a propulsion device to help "launch" ideas into orbit (markets).

* Space New Economy Creation Network (S-NET) activities were started by the Space Development Strategy Promotion Secretariat, Cabinet Office of Japan on March 22, 2016 to bring together companies, individuals, organizations, and others interested in creating new industries and services on the keyword of "space."

Please visit our YouTube account.

<S-Booster 2022>
Website

<S-Booster 2021>
Website
Highlights
Final Round videos

<S-Booster 2019>
Website
Highlights
Final Round videos

<S-Booster 2018>
Website
Highlights
Final Round videos

<S-Booster 2017>
Website
Information
Final Round videos
Applying the contest

Both individuals and teams can apply, regardless of whether you are affiliated with a company, university, etc. We will ask your affiliation when you are proceeded to Round2, in order to identify conflicts of interest in screening. People not of legal age must apply as part of a team with adults. There are no restrictions on occupation; anyone can apply, including students. However, you should only apply if you are planning to commercialize the idea yourself.

Ideas that have already received funding from an institutional investor (Series A)* are not accepted .
(*Ideas funded by an angel investor are accepted.)
Please note that your idea is not eligible if you receive funding from an institutional investor after your application.

Please contact the secretariat by e-mail that you would like to cancel (correct) the application. If you want to reapply or make corrections, you need to complete the application by 17:00 on June 12th (Monday).

Yes you can.

The rights to submitted ideas belong to their applicants. Because ideas are presented to the public at the Final Round, please be aware of the schedule for intellectual property rights, etc.

NO

The prize money is awarded as a supplementary prize to honor excellent ideas. When describing the necessary funding scope for commercialization, please present the information as a business plan in the project proposal (to be attached to the Application Guidelines). Even for ideas that have no detailed financial plans, if you pass Rounds 1 and 2, the necessary support will be provided for the Final Round.

If the representative has Japanese nationality, only "domestic" can be applied.
If the representative does not have Japanese nationality, please apply according to the language used.
Judging and selection

[Rounds 1 and 2]
Rounds 1 and 2 will be judged by external experts and sponsors.

[Final Round]
The Final Round will be judged by special judges, JAXA, NEDO and sponsors.
Special judges will discuss and award the Grand Prize, Special Judges’ Prize, and Asia-Oceania Prize. Sponsor Prize winners will be decided by judges from each sponsor. The JAXA Prize will be decided by JAXA judges. The NEDO Prize will be decided by NEDO judges.

Finalists from Rounds 1 and 2 will be announced around August on this website, etc. Please note that we cannot answer individual inquiries about selection results or your entry.

Sponsor Prizes are given to ideas on the sponsor themes in principle, but other ideas may be chosen in some cases.

You can choose multiple sponsor themes.

Excellent business ideas may be awarded multiple prizes in some cases.
Other

Information about the Final Round will be posted on the website.

Please consult the Secretariat.
info@s-booster.jp

Contact Us

S-Booster Executive Committee Secretariat
info@s-booster.jp

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