NEDO NEP 2026
Commercializing the desktop PCB fabrication machine Alnilam
- Selected for NEDO NEP Kaitaku Course 2026
Overview
I was selected for the Kaitaku Course 2026 of the NEDO Entrepreneurs Program (NEP), a founder support program run by NEDO, with Alnilam. Development that began in a high school club room has entered the stage of becoming a business.
Activity log
Awardee profile page on the NEDO NEP siteSince selection, I have been working in parallel on IP acquisition centered on a patent application, development toward a kit version, and preparation for field trials. As a first step toward validation, I am preparing a trial provision of the educational kit to a high school. Because the machine handles chemicals, preparing safety documentation is also part of the job here, including confirming that it does not fall under Japan’s Poisonous and Deleterious Substances Control Act. Add monthly progress reports and budget management, and the work is of an entirely different kind from development.
At the NEPCON Japan Kansai 2026 venueThe hypothesis-testing methods I learned in the Startup Founders Program (SFP) at the University of Tokyo’s Hongo Tech Garage, which accepted me around the same time, feed directly into this work.
NEDO Front-Runner appointment certificateBeing able to build something and being able to sell it are separate problems. Are the customers robotics competition participants, corporate R&D departments that cannot send design data outside the company, or technical colleges and universities? While reassessing how serious the problem is for each of these groups, I intend to carry Alnilam to the point where it ships as a tool that accelerates trial and error for students and researchers.