The Exploratory Software Project (ESP), or "Mitoh" project in Japanese, is gateway for young talented developers to the hacker community in Japan. Directed by IPA, Information-technology Promotion Agency of Japan, it aims to aid research and development of new, innovative software. Unlike other grant-in-aids, it targets individuals, rather than particular groups. Every year, a "super-creator" award is given to individuals who contributed outstanding achievements, which I had the honor to receive for nytr.
Everyone with a creative idea related to computer science is welcome. Even very early-stage projects are eligible. Unique multidisciplinary projects are hosted every year. For example, subjects such as computer aided classic music or painting and a recommendation engine for library books have been researched.
The ESP’s youth division, "Mitoh youth," targets young creative individuals up to the age of 27. Note that there is no lower age limit. The youngest participant was 16 years old. Achievements from the youth division are often on par with those from the senior division. For example, Daiyuu Nobori, who directed the SoftEther project, was only 17 when his project was accepted. PacketiX VPN, the VPN software he has developed has become a standard in Japan from for its excellent functionality and ease of configuration.
A great benefit to all participants at ESP is the community spirit. Especially the youth division offers many community activities. First of all, all participants in the youth division attend the "start-up boost" conference. It is held over two days, day and night, and everyone has the opportunity to discuss their project details and hear advice from past participants of the program. Even after a project’s term, official and non-official alumni events are held regularly. One of the largest unofficial event is the "ESPer conference" held twice a year, where over a hundred alumni gather in one place.
Project achievements are published in various ways. Most projects are open to the public as freeware and many are provided under an open source license. The unique part of this program is that all copyrights remain with the individual developer. Several successful start-up companies were launched by participants, based on software they have developed.
I think the ESP is a quite rare program internationally, something Japanese can be proud of. The Google Summer of Code is often compared to it, but rather than supporting an existing successful open source project, the participants are encouraged to explore unchartered terrain in innovative software projects. If you are interested in talented Japanese developers and the unique software product they develop, keep an eye on ESP!
The Asiajin Blog has a report on the ESPer2008 conference.
