Toward a City with “Democratization of Entrepreneurship”:

Formation of Entrepreneurial Communities in Fukuoka

Abstract

This study examines the process of formation of entrepreneurial communities in Fukuoka City as a leading-edge case study of a regional core city. We collected literature from the 1980s to the present, identified organizations and individuals important in supporting entrepreneurship in Fukuoka, conducted semi-structured interviews, and organized the data in chronological order. Entrepreneurial activities in Fukuoka were developed through both administrative support and through industrial promotion and a venture support infrastructure that has been developed by Fukuoka Prefecture since the 1980s. “Democratization of entrepreneurship” was realized in Fukuoka, where entrepreneurship became a familiar career option for everyone, with “boundary spanner” playing an important role by crossing boundaries between the public and private sectors, the prefecture and the city, and other entrepreneurial communities. The city’s “democratization of entrepreneurship” approach represents an option in a society in which entrepreneurship is inactive.