Chiba University and Triple-i's Inc. Sign Comprehensive Partnership Agreement
Chiba University and AI development company Triple-i's Inc. have signed a comprehensive partnership agreement. To promote AI education and regional DX, they will establish a new credit-bearing course, 'AI Co-Creation and Digital Design Fundamentals,' for all undergraduate students starting in April 2026, accelerating the development of practical AI talent.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 15, 2026 at 01:00
- 🔍 Collected: May 14, 2026 at 16:32
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 15, 2026 at 03:06 (10h 34m after Collected)
National University Corporation Chiba University (Headquarters: Inage-ku, Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture; President: Kotaro Yokote) has signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with Triple-i's Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Hiroya Katabuchi) to promote AI education and DX in the local community. A signing ceremony was held on Friday, May 1, 2026.
Since October 2025, Chiba University and Triple-i's have been engaged in educational collaboration, such as AI-related courses for high school students, through the 'Innovative Education and Research Support Program for Early Nurturing of Outstanding Human Resources in Science and Technology' (ASCENT-6E), run by the Chiba University Office for the Next Generation Talent Support, a high school-university partnership project. With this agreement, starting from April 2026, a new course 'AI Co-Creation and Digital Design Fundamentals (2 credits)' will be established as a general education subject for all faculties and years. Furthermore, by connecting the diverse researchers active in various specialized fields unique to a comprehensive university with Triple-i's' AI technology and implementation know-how, we will build a stronger cooperative relationship to solve various social issues.
■ Comment from Chiba University President Yokote
With the conclusion of this agreement, we aim to organically link the cutting-edge AI technology of Triple-i's with the resources of our university, such as general education, high school-university partnership education, and entrepreneurship education, to build a collaborative relationship that 'maximizes' our respective strengths. Furthermore, by developing this collaboration while flexibly 'customizing' it according to the purpose and target, I have high expectations that it will lead to the 'realization' of human resource development appropriate for the AI era.
■ Comment from Triple-i's CEO Katabuchi
I believe that by combining the social implementation capabilities of Triple-i's with the research results and human resources of Chiba University, an academic institution, we can create social activities that can move the world. We want to utilize the assets that Triple-i's possesses, such as image recognition and AI research and development, to conduct interdisciplinary joint research, foster international DX human resources, and carry out activities based in Chiba. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with Chiba University to create a sustainable society for the future.
From left: Hiroya Katabuchi, CEO; Kotaro Yokote, President (Chiba University)
Students attending a class leading up to an app development exercise by Yuji Kondo (Triple-i's, Deputy Manager of DX Solution Development Department).
■ Lecture Overview and Four Goals
Course Name: AI Co-Creation and Digital Design Fundamentals
Target: 1st to 4th-year students (all faculties)
Period: 2026 Academic Year, First Term of the first semester (Every Friday, 4th & 5th period / 15 sessions in total)
Location: Lecture Room 110, Building 15, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University
Number of Students: 42
Lecture Content: UI/UX design with design thinking and app creation using generative AI (15 sessions in an exercise format)
Goals:
(1) Practice of Design Thinking: Embodying solutions to social issues as digital products.
(2) AI Utilization and Control: Understanding and appropriately controlling the characteristics of generative AI.
(3) Logical Debugging Ability: Discovering and correcting errors in AI-generated code, learning the essence of programming.
(4) Mastery of Agile Development: Repeating the cycle of design and implementation to complete a unique app.
■ Future Developments
In the 'ASCENT-6E' program, we will continue to conduct generative AI lectures by the company for high school students, aiming to foster creative problem-solving skills through inquiry-based programming exercises (what are the problems, and how to use them in reality).
Since October 2025, Chiba University and Triple-i's have been engaged in educational collaboration, such as AI-related courses for high school students, through the 'Innovative Education and Research Support Program for Early Nurturing of Outstanding Human Resources in Science and Technology' (ASCENT-6E), run by the Chiba University Office for the Next Generation Talent Support, a high school-university partnership project. With this agreement, starting from April 2026, a new course 'AI Co-Creation and Digital Design Fundamentals (2 credits)' will be established as a general education subject for all faculties and years. Furthermore, by connecting the diverse researchers active in various specialized fields unique to a comprehensive university with Triple-i's' AI technology and implementation know-how, we will build a stronger cooperative relationship to solve various social issues.
■ Comment from Chiba University President Yokote
With the conclusion of this agreement, we aim to organically link the cutting-edge AI technology of Triple-i's with the resources of our university, such as general education, high school-university partnership education, and entrepreneurship education, to build a collaborative relationship that 'maximizes' our respective strengths. Furthermore, by developing this collaboration while flexibly 'customizing' it according to the purpose and target, I have high expectations that it will lead to the 'realization' of human resource development appropriate for the AI era.
■ Comment from Triple-i's CEO Katabuchi
I believe that by combining the social implementation capabilities of Triple-i's with the research results and human resources of Chiba University, an academic institution, we can create social activities that can move the world. We want to utilize the assets that Triple-i's possesses, such as image recognition and AI research and development, to conduct interdisciplinary joint research, foster international DX human resources, and carry out activities based in Chiba. We look forward to working hand-in-hand with Chiba University to create a sustainable society for the future.
From left: Hiroya Katabuchi, CEO; Kotaro Yokote, President (Chiba University)
Students attending a class leading up to an app development exercise by Yuji Kondo (Triple-i's, Deputy Manager of DX Solution Development Department).
■ Lecture Overview and Four Goals
Course Name: AI Co-Creation and Digital Design Fundamentals
Target: 1st to 4th-year students (all faculties)
Period: 2026 Academic Year, First Term of the first semester (Every Friday, 4th & 5th period / 15 sessions in total)
Location: Lecture Room 110, Building 15, Faculty of Engineering, Chiba University
Number of Students: 42
Lecture Content: UI/UX design with design thinking and app creation using generative AI (15 sessions in an exercise format)
Goals:
(1) Practice of Design Thinking: Embodying solutions to social issues as digital products.
(2) AI Utilization and Control: Understanding and appropriately controlling the characteristics of generative AI.
(3) Logical Debugging Ability: Discovering and correcting errors in AI-generated code, learning the essence of programming.
(4) Mastery of Agile Development: Repeating the cycle of design and implementation to complete a unique app.
■ Future Developments
In the 'ASCENT-6E' program, we will continue to conduct generative AI lectures by the company for high school students, aiming to foster creative problem-solving skills through inquiry-based programming exercises (what are the problems, and how to use them in reality).