Pre-entries Open for 'The 8th Startup Jr. Award 2026', a Presentation Competition Fostering Entrepreneurship for Students to Envision Dreams and Step into Society

Key Visual for the 8th Startup Jr. Award 2026 ValuesFusion Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Keita Takeuchi), which supports hands-on career education for children and sustainability business promotion through services like 'Job Experience Dot Com' and 'Job Experience EXPO', has announced the holding of 'The 8th Startup Jr. Award 2026'. This presentation competition aims to foster entrepreneurship among elementary, junior high, and high school students, encouraging them to envision their dreams and take a step forward into society. Pre-entry applications have now opened. Pre-entries can be submitted here (Official website: https://startupjr-award.jp). 'Startup Jr. Award' is an entrepreneurship presentation competition for elementary, junior high, and high school students. Its purpose is to cultivate the ability to envision dreams, act beyond personal boundaries, and create new value. Teams and individuals can challenge themselves by presenting ideas about the kind of future they want to create or the problems they want to solve. This competition provides a broad opportunity to develop skills such as inquisitiveness, problem-solving, a spirit of challenge, creativity, and communication. It can be utilized as a platform for efforts and presentations at the school or class level during integrated inquiry-based learning hours, and individual entries outside of school entries are also possible. It is a competition where students can freely express proposals for the future and problem-solving ideas. We are holding this event to further expand presentation education for children in Japan and the base of entrepreneurship as a first step to taking on challenges. The theme for the 2026 academic year is 'Entrepreneurship & Dream' - Dream, and take a step into society! Elementary, junior high, and high school students are invited to present ideas about the future they wish to see, or solutions to issues they casually notice during school or daily life. That one step of action may lead to shaping the future. This competition supports such challenges of children and is open to students nationwide. Logo of the 8th Startup Jr. Award 2026 Pre-entries for 'The 8th Startup Jr. Award 2026' open on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Following the primary screening (document selection) and secondary screening (presentation video), the final tournament will be held at the Tokyo Stock Exchange 'TSE Arrows' on Saturday, March 6, 2027. In the final tournament, participants will give presentations before active business professionals who will serve as judges to determine the winners. Individual, team, or school unit participation is possible across the elementary, junior high, and high school divisions. Evaluations will be comprehensively based on envisioned dreams, desired visions, actions and sustainability based on ideas, positive ripple effects on society and surroundings, as well as expressive power including presentation structure and appeal. Through this event, where the children who will lead the next generation can freely think of ideas with rich imagination and transmit them to society, ValuesFusion hopes to bring opportunities for 'learning that is useful in society' in the future, ultimately leading to the promotion of career education. Furthermore, for this initiative, our company received the Excellence Company Award at the 9th 'Youth Experience Activity Promotion Company Awards' sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. A presenter at the 2025 competition delivering a confident presentation Presentation by Jin Okabe, Winner of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award Mr. Okabe presented an idea: 'To find what you want to do in the future, if you select tabs of your interests and concerns in an app, it recommends suitable professions. When a recommended profession is selected, missions to get closer to that job are presented, connecting to actions toward future goals by learning while taking on challenges.' Presentation by Masamune Kato, Winner of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in the Junior High School Division Mr. Kato presented an idea: 'Devised a new energy utilization idea that generates light, heat, and electricity using solar energy. By maximizing the power of the sun, it is an idea that leads to solving energy problems and reducing environmental burdens.' Presentation by Kuroto Tagami, Winner of the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award in the High School Division Mr. Tagami presented an idea: 'Focusing on the issue of short sleep duration, based on the idea that sleeping is the most important "job" to achieve top performance, this idea conveys the importance and value of sleep.' ●Supporter Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology ●Sponsors Tokyo Stock Exchange, Inc. JPX Money-bu! Lab