Can IP-NFTs Be a Game Changer for Japan?

Like many countries, Japan’s science engine is falling short of its potential. Brilliant Japanese scientists remain frustrated they can’t get funding for their potential medical therapies. Not enough successful start-ups are hatching in Japan lately. While Tokyo ranks #1 in the world for scientific discoveries (per WIPO), it remains only 10th for start-up creation.

Japan’s pharmaceutical market has been experiencing a prolonged decline. In the early 1980s, it accounted for over 25% of the global market yet by 2023, Japan’s share had dropped to 4.4% of the world market.

A new fundraising tool could revive Japan’s once-mighty start-up engine, though. To ensure more Japanese start-ups scale up to become global companies, they can capitalize on a new paradigm of start-up funding: intellectual property non-fungible tokens (IP-NFTs).

Let’s first dive into what’s missing today.

Japan’s scientific engine could use more fuel and talent.

That fuel is capital. Promising researchers just don’t have enough capital to power their ideas from basic research to commercial products. A brilliant scientist in Kyushu has discovered a potential breakthrough cancer therapy yet he lacks capital to build a start-up to take this new therapy to clinical trials and then, hopefully, to patients.