SFC Forum

The representative-director board — Jiro Kokuryo, Hitoshi Takano, Masatoshi Tanaka, and Ichiro Yamanaka — governs the foundation. The forum operates a dedicated fund business division whose investment-committee structure is not publicly detailed, but the board collectively oversees the foundation's activities, including its venture investing and government-contract work.

Proprietary deal flow flows from the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) research pipeline and the SFC Innovation Village (SFC-IV) in Fujisawa. The forum also runs a recurring closed luncheon series — over 170 events — where faculty present research directly to corporate members, creating an informal origination channel that blends academic insight with executive relationships.

Per Altss research, the forum targets seed and early-stage companies, with a general venture mandate. The firm's capture of the SHIN Minato Mirai venture-growth hub contract in April 2024 further confirms a focus on acceleration-stage and growth-stage venture support in Kanagawa Prefecture.

SFC Forum is a legally separate general incorporated foundation, not the university's endowment. It collaborates closely with Keio's Shonan Fujisawa Campus — its directors include a Keio professor emeritus, and its office sits on campus — but it raises its own corporate memberships and operates its fund and government-contract businesses independently.

Geographically, SFC Forum operates from Kanagawa Prefecture with a domestic Japanese venture focus, but it has also executed cross-border government work — notably a 2023 JICA contract for industrial cybersecurity training targeting the Indo-Pacific region, and a 2026 YouTube policy series covering US-China-Japan strategic affairs.