FY2025 Niigata University 'Intrapreneur Training Course' Creates New Product Prototypes for Local Companies Through Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration

NTT DX Partner Corp. (hereafter NTT DX Partner) and National University Corporation Niigata University (hereafter Niigata University) conducted the 'Intrapreneur Training Course (hereafter this course) *1' from December 2025 to March 2026, based on the technologies of Aoyoshi Co., Ltd. (a metalworking company in Tsubame City, Niigata) and Shinwa Plating Industrial Co., Ltd. (a plating company in Joetsu City, Niigata), which drive local industry. In this course, employees of both companies, general working adult participants, and students formed mixed teams. While learning new product development methodologies, they examined ideas and successfully created prototypes in about three months.

*1 Offered as one of the subjects in the 'Corporate Transformation Leader Reskilling Program' within the 'Niigata Prefecture Foreign Engineer & Corporate Transformation Leader Reskilling Platform' newly established in FY2025.

Prototype of Aoyoshi Co., Ltd. (Resin memorial ornament)
Prototype of Shinwa Plating Industrial Co., Ltd. (Titanium bookmark)

1. Background

Niigata University has been engaged in recurrent education aimed at working adults in local companies and students aspiring to become entrepreneurs, aiming to solve regional issues specific to Niigata Prefecture, such as 'shortages of engineers in the construction industry' and 'shortages of successors for small and medium-sized enterprises.'

This course was implemented as a subject of the 'Corporate Transformation Leader Reskilling Program' within the 'Niigata Prefecture Foreign Engineer & Corporate Transformation Leader Reskilling Platform.' With NTT DX Partner serving as instructors and facilitators to provide hands-on support, participants acquired knowledge necessary for developing new products and services, such as design thinking and business model canvas. By creating actual new products and services for existing companies, the course aimed to realize new value creation for the companies and human resource development for working adults and students.

2. Content of this Course

◆ DAY 1: Self-understanding, Design Thinking, and Idea Generation using Generative AI (Held on December 12, 2025)
Objective: Understanding oneself, clarifying what to achieve, and understanding design thinking.
Implementation details: Self-discovery workshop, design thinking workshop, idea generation utilizing generative AI (Fictional Product Mall *2).
*2 A new product development platform provided by NTT DX Partner since December 2024, where generative AI creates new product ideas in a chatbot format based on consumers' 'nice-to-haves' (https://mk.virtual-product-mall.com/)

◆ DAY 2: Customer Understanding and Examination of New Products/Services (Held on December 22, 2025)
Objective: Understanding the technologies of participating companies and understanding the customers for the proposed new products/services.
Implementation details: Technological experience of participating companies, setting personas to grasp 'worries' and 'desires', preparation for interviews.

◆ DAY 3: Designing the Service Model (Held on January 21, 2026)
Objective: Organizing the value provided, designing the service model, and examining paper prototypes.
Implementation details: Reviewing hypotheses after customer interviews, designing the product concept, and creating paper prototypes.

◆ DAY 4: Reorganizing the Examined New Products/Services (Held on February 18, 2026)
Objective: Confirming the marketability and designing the profitability of the examined new products/services.
Implementation details: Confirming the overall picture using the Business Model Canvas, designing TAM/SAM/SOM, and creating a budget plan.

◆ DAY 5: Presentation of New Products/Services to the Management of Participating Companies (Held on March 9, 2026)
Objective: Examination of commercialization.
Implementation details: Presenting the new products/services to the management of participating companies.
Reviewers: Kazuhisa Abe, Vice Director, Institute for Social Collaboration and Promotion, Niigata University
Teppei Akimoto, Senior Managing Director, Aoyoshi Co., Ltd.
Naoaki Takimi, President and CEO, Shinwa Plating Industrial Co., Ltd.
Yutaka Hasebe, President and CEO, NTT DX Partner Corp.

Presentation scene / Review scene / Group photo of graduates

3. Features of the Course

■ Feature 1: Completion of New Product Prototypes ─ Concrete results leading to corporate business growth

As the culmination of this course, the two participating companies successfully realized specific new product planning and prototype production.
Shinwa Plating Industrial Co., Ltd. utilized the generative AI tool 'Fictional Product Mall' and workshops with companies from other industries and students to create prototypes of two products under the theme 'Making every day more like yourself'.