Gaiax Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and Representative Executive Officer: Yuji Ueda; Securities code: 3775), which provides entrepreneurship education programs in collaboration with industry, academia, and government, will work with Hyogo Prefecture to implement the Trial Entrepreneurship Program. The program targets high school, technical college, and university students in Hyogo Prefecture, as well as young working adults aged 30 or younger, supporting them from startup idea validation through to business creation. Participants with outstanding ideas will receive support including hands-on mentoring from experts, activity grants of up to 200,000 yen, and customer introductions. This marks the second year of Gaiax’s collaboration with Hyogo Prefecture on this initiative. Last year, 42 people participated in the preliminary lectures, and all 10 participants in the demonstration program completed prototype development and customer testing. Of these, two actually founded businesses, while four generated revenue through their ventures. The program consists of two parts: preliminary lectures that teach participants how to generate and validate startup ideas, and a demonstration program in which participants work with startup support experts to implement their ideas in society. The three-session preliminary lecture program systematically covers how to develop startup ideas, design prototypes, and manage market validation projects. In the demonstration program, participants validate solutions in their business plans and work on solving real-world problems. Each participant is paired with one startup support expert as a mentor, who provides guidance tailored to the participant’s current situation and needs. The goals of the preliminary lectures are to help participants decide on a startup idea, become able to create prototypes and conduct market validation, and acquire the ability to drive projects forward. The demonstration program aims to validate