Shuta Shibuya

Shuta Shibuya is a global affiliate visiting scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) for 2026-27. He is a board director of Socialups, Inc., where he supports entrepreneurs in collaboration with local governments to strengthen regional startup ecosystems. He is also the founder of Fuller, Inc., a leading mobile app development company for Japan's national brands, which he established with friends from his student days in 2011. In 2025, Fuller became the first company from his home prefecture of Niigata, a snowy region famous for rice and sake, to list on the Growth Market of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. 

Shibuya has dedicated himself to revitalizing  regional innovation ecosystems as chairman of the Niigata Venture Association, which has nurtured more than 100 entrepreneurs, and as founder of the Kosenjin Foundation, connecting over 500,000 graduates of Japan's National Institute of Technology (Kosen). He also supports the next generation as a visiting professor at his alma mater, the National Institute of Technology, Nagaoka College, and an associate professor at Kaishi Professional University. He holds a bachelor's degree in social engineering from the University of Tsukuba and is the author of Tomodachi Keiei (Entrepreneurial Friendship) (Tokuma Shoten, 2022). His honors include Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia (2016). and EY Entrepreneur of the Year Japan (2021). 

While at APARC, he will research Asian startup ecosystems in Silicon Valley, exploring how their insights can inform the globalization of Japanese entrepreneurs and the revitalization of regional economies in Japan.