FY2026 Hyogo Prefecture SME Overseas Expansion Subsidy (Overseas Patent/Trademark Filing Support)

This program supports SMEs and certain organizations in Hyogo Prefecture in filing industrial property rights abroad (patents, utility models, designs, trademarks, and pre-emptive trademarks), funded by the Japan Patent Office (METI) and administered locally by the New Industry Research Organization (NIRO), a public-interest incorporated foundation appointed as Hyogo's SME support center. The grant covers up to 50 % of foreign-filing expenses, with annual caps of 3 million yen per company and per-case caps up to 1.5 million yen, to promote the international business expansion of Hyogo SMEs. Eligible applicants are: (1) SMEs as defined in the SME Support Act (or groups in which SMEs make up at least two-thirds of members) and sole proprietors; and (2) for regional collective trademarks only, business cooperatives, chambers of commerce/industry, and NPO corporations. All applicants must (i) have their head office in Hyogo and operate there, (ii) not qualify as a "deemed large enterprise" under the program's anti-circumvention rules, (iii) be able to engage cooperation from a Japan-based patent attorney (benrishi), (iv) cooperate with a 5-year post-completion follow-up survey, and (v) not be subject to the anti-organized-crime pledge in METI's implementation guidelines. The case must already have a basic Japan filing at the JPO; first-foreign-filings without a Japan base are ineligible. Eligible expenses, incurred between the grant award date and the project completion date (29 January 2027), include foreign-office filing fees, JP-side and local patent-attorney fees, translation costs, and other costs deemed necessary by NIRO. The subsidy rate is up to 1/2; per-company annual cap is JPY 3,000,000, per-case caps are JPY 1,500,000 for patents, JPY 600,000 for utility-model/design/trademark filings, and JPY 300,000 for pre-emptive trademarks. Filing the same Japan base case in multiple countries counts as a single case. The application procedure has two steps: (1) entry via the NIRO website or jGrants; (2) WORD-data submission of Form 1-1 or 1-2 (anti-pre-emptive cases) to kaigai-syutsugan@niro.or.jp followed by mailing of the prescribed attachments (corporate registry, articles of incorporation, two years of financial statements, basic JP filing documents, quotes, funding plan, prior-art search results, etc.) — one original and five copies. The application window is 20 May 2026 (Wed) to 15 June 2026 (Mon), postmark valid; FAX or hand-delivery is not accepted. Address: New Industry Research Organization, IP Center, 4F Kobe Chamber of Commerce & Industry, 6-1 Minatojima Nakamachi, Chuo-ku, Kobe 650-0046.