BSN i-Net, BSN Wave and Socialups Win Niigata Prefecture’s FY2026 AI Utilization Promotion Lab Contract

A joint venture formed by BSN i-Net Co., Ltd. (head office: Niigata City, Niigata; President and Representative Director: Shunsuke Nagumo), BSN Wave Co., Ltd. (head office: Niigata City, Niigata; President and Representative Director: Hiroyuki Kaneda), and Socialups Inc. (head office: Niigata City, Niigata; President and Representative Director: Akimitsu Takase) has been selected for Niigata Prefecture’s publicly solicited project, the “FY2026 AI Utilization Promotion Lab Outsourcing Project.” Through the project, the three companies will combine their strengths to build “Niigata AI Digital Playground,” a new platform connecting business challenges in Niigata Prefecture with AI technologies from inside and outside the region. In partnership with the public and private sectors, the initiative aims to improve productivity across diverse local industries, solve regional issues, and foster a new AI-driven innovation ecosystem. The project comes as Niigata faces increasingly complex social and economic challenges, including population decline, labor shortages, and changes in industrial structure. At the same time, AI technologies, including generative AI, are rapidly advancing and are expected to become powerful tools for addressing these issues. However, local gaps remain: companies often do not know how to solve their own problems with AI, AI developers struggle to find demonstration fields and connections with operating companies, and information on subsidies, support programs, and outreach opportunities is fragmented. The project will address these issues through three pillars: matching local corporate challenges with AI developers inside and outside the prefecture, providing demonstration subsidies to companies and organizations attempting AI adoption, and holding “Niigata AI Expo 2026,” one of the largest AI events in the prefecture. The joint venture consists of BSN i-Net, BSN Wave, and Socialups. BSN i-Net will oversee the overall project, planning, and central secretariat; BSN Wave will plan and operate the AI Expo; and Socialups will plan and operate the AI Utilization Promotion Lab and business subsidy program. By combining local expertise in systems, media, and startup support, the three organizations aim to broaden the base of AI adoption in Niigata. Under the overall concept of “Niigata AI Digital Playground,” the project will deploy three integrated initiatives. The first is AI challenge-solving matching, which connects operational and regional challenges held by local companies and municipalities with the technologies and expertise of AI developers. The second is an AI utilization demonstration subsidy program, supporting development and demonstration costs for AI projects using Niigata as a field, with up to around 10 million yen per project and a target of about 15 selected projects in the prefecture. The third is “Niigata AI Expo 2026,” scheduled for October 2026, aiming for around 70 exhibitors and more than 3,500 visitors. The event will showcase cutting-edge AI technologies, initiatives by local companies, and results from selected projects, with planned collaboration with leading industry, government, and academic players such as AWS, NVIDIA, NTT DATA, SoftBank, and Niigata University. Before recruiting AI developers and local companies, the organizers will hold kickoff briefing sessions at four venues: three in Niigata Prefecture and one in Tokyo. The sessions will explain the purpose of the project and the benefits of participation, with archived content also planned.