Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's "Entrepreneurship Education Award 2026": School Adopting AI Samurai's Invention Education Program "Hatsumei Terakoya®" Receives Award

AI Samurai, Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Hajime Shirasaka) is pleased to announce that the initiative by Kanagawa Prefectural Hiratsuka Secondary Education School, which implemented our invention education program "Hatsumei Terakoya®", has received the Create New Value Award at the "Entrepreneurship Education Award 2026" hosted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Kanagawa Prefectural Hiratsuka Secondary Education School's Daiki Kato (center right) receiving the award (March 20, 2026, Tokyo Innovation Base)

Overview of the Awarded Initiative

This initiative, designed as a 10-session curriculum for first-year junior high school students, was recognized for consistently practicing the process of thinking about inventions starting from "someone's trouble," concretizing ideas through trial and error, and finally presenting them as an "Inventor's Play." It was evaluated as an educational practice designed as the starting point for the school's six-year integrated research learning, fostering students' ability to independently grasp issues, create solutions, and communicate them to society.

This initiative is introduced on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's official website as follows:

Introduction of this initiative posted on the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's official website (from "Entrepreneurship Education Award 2026") ※Source: https://www.mext.go.jp/entrepreneurship-education/event_202603/

In this class, the patent examination simulation system "AI Samurai" was utilized to evaluate and analyze students' ideas, emphasizing a process of repeated trial and error. The continuous improvement based on AI evaluation results was highly praised for allowing students to recognize the potential of their own ideas and gain experience in challenging themselves while overcoming failures.

(Reference: https://www.mext.go.jp/entrepreneurship-education/event_202603/)

Educational Characteristics of "Hatsumei Terakoya®"

In the final presentation, Teacher Kato summarized the characteristics of "Hatsumei Terakoya®" as follows:

① Sociability: Evaluating students' inventions against "real societal standards" through patent data.

② Improveability: Emphasizing the process of refining inventions through trial and error, utilizing AI analysis results.

③ Versatility: An educational model that can be implemented as long as there is an online environment, deployable regardless of school or region.

Significance of the Initiative

This initiative allows students to learn the entire process from problem discovery to solution and expression through invention, positioned as an educational model that comprehensively cultivates thinking, creativity, and expression skills.

＜Comments from the Supervising Teacher＞ (Daiki Kato, Kanagawa Prefectural Hiratsuka Secondary Education School)

We are extremely delighted to receive this award. What we wanted to convey to the students through "Inventor's Play" was the firsthand experience of "feeling the potential for their ideas to be accepted in society." Providing students with a tangible sense of real-world evaluation, beyond school assessments, through AI Samurai has been incredibly meaningful. We sincerely thank everyone at AI Samurai, Inc. for making such an environment for authentic learning possible.

Future Development

We will continue to promote initiatives that nurture the creativity of the next generation through our invention education program, "Hatsumei Terakoya®." Furthermore, by expanding our educational model utilizing online environments, we aim to provide educational opportunities that are independent of region or environment, and strive for the further dissemination and advancement of invention education.

＜About "Hatsumei Terakoya®"＞

"Hatsumei Terakoya®" is an invention education program for children provided by our company. Based on the philosophy that "invention is for others," we practice education that fosters the ability to generate ideas from everyday observations and consider the stories behind them, and we have a track record of providing this to many children and students.

Details: https://aisamurai.co.jp/ip-education/

＜About AI Samurai, Inc.＞

AI Samurai, Inc. is an invention creation AI® company established through industry-academia collaboration with Osaka University and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, with the mission of "Revitalizing Japan as a Nation Built on Intellectual Property." Our proprietary "AI Samurai®" system utilizes publicly available data from the Japan Patent Office to evaluate the patentability of inventions based on similar prior art, allowing for patent examination simulations to be performed in a short period. We also provide solutions to support intellectual property strategies, such as patent document creation support services and IP landscape support.

Company Profile

Company Name: AI Samurai, Inc. Representative Director: Hajime Shirasaka Established: September 11, 2015 Location: Otemachi Building 4F, 1-6-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Capital: 100 million JPY (as of October 31, 2022) Business Description: Providing IP-related IT and analysis services. URL: https://aisamurai.co.jp/