When Noriyuki Ichihashi, an employee of Itochu Corp., proposed his idea to the firm's Internet venture incubation office about a year ago, the trading house was quick to give him the green light. Within a month, the 34-year-old had set up a planning company.
"Without this (incubation) system, my plan would not have been realized that fast because the idea was still premature," recalled Ichihashi, president of Customer Loyalty Networks K.K., a venture that provides businesses with programs for setting up royalty systems to attract customers to their Web sites.
Itochu's "intrepreneurship" system, introduced in March 2000, focuses on incubating online ventures.