Shizuoka SME Profitability Improvement (Wage-Increase Environment Development) Subsidy

This subsidy is implemented by the Shizuoka Industrial Promotion Foundation, funded by Japan's Priority Local Allocation Tax and Shizuoka Prefecture, to improve the profitability and sustainable growth of SMEs and to encourage continued wage increases. It supports projects by SMEs based in Shizuoka that develop unique technologies or services in response to changing business environments, providing subsidies for projects under a business plan of up to two years targeting value-added improvement. Eligible applicants are SMEs and similar entities (general/public-interest associations, NPOs, workers' cooperatives, etc.) with their main office or place of business in Shizuoka, that have operated in the prefecture for at least one year. So-called "deemed-large enterprises" are excluded. Applicants must have no prefectural-tax arrears, must not be currently under contract-suspension, and must meet all anti-organized-crime requirements; entities under corporate rehabilitation or civil rehabilitation filings are excluded. Projects must aim to raise value-added (operating profit + labor cost + depreciation) by an annual average of 3% or more, and must be either (I) projects following a Shizuoka-governor-approved Management Innovation Plan, or (II) projects newly conducted by the company for raising profitability/productivity (new products, new services, new business fields, new production/sales methods, new service-delivery methods). Eligible expenses include expert fees and travel, staff travel, raw materials, machinery parts/tools, machinery and equipment, intellectual property acquisition, outsourcing, exhibition fees, reference materials, communication, leases, research, miscellaneous labor, PR, and translation. The Standard frame caps subsidy at 1/2 of expenses up to 5 million yen (2/3 up to 7 million yen for wage-raise eligible applicants); the DX-Promotion frame caps at 1/2 up to 7 million yen (2/3 up to 10 million yen for wage-raise eligible applicants), with a 500 thousand yen floor. The project period ends by December 31, 2026. Applications run April 1 - May 15, 2026 (Round 1) and June 1 - June 30, 2026 (Round 2), only via the Jグランツ e-application system with a GビズID Prime account. Only one application per business is permitted.