Transforming 'Tacit Knowledge' into Assets with AI. COMAC and TSUMUGU Develop AI-Augmented SECI Model to Leverage Organizational 'Experience and Passion'

Japan Communication Academy Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Toshima-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Katsunori Kono; hereinafter 'COMAC') and TSUMUGU Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Akinori Bisaiji; hereinafter 'TSUMUGU') are pleased to announce the joint development and service launch of the 'AI-Augmented SECI Model,' a new organizational development method that expands the 'SECI model' of knowledge creation theory using AI.

By integrating COMAC's patented technologies, 'Episode link®' and 'Tsunagaru AI®,' with the knowledge creation theory 'SECI model' advocated by Ikujiro Nonaka, we have achieved an innovation that dramatically accelerates the generation of organizational knowledge.

This model uses AI to structure and accumulate the 'unverbalized value' such as the experiences and thoughts of individual employees, providing a foundation for companies to independently promote organizational transformation and new business creation.

■ Background: 'Value Creation' Required After Efficiency
As labor shortages and changes in the market environment accelerate, many companies are promoting operational efficiency using AI.
However, conventional AI utilization has not been able to adequately address 'the creation of new value' and 'the fostering of a sense of unity in the organization,' which are essential for sustainable corporate growth.

What is needed now is a mechanism to convert 'tacit knowledge,' such as individual experiences and decision-making criteria, into organizational power.

■ Features: Shifting AI from 'Organizing' to 'Creating'
A key feature of this model is that AI is not just an operational efficiency tool, but is utilized as a foundation to visualize human thoughts, values, and experiences, connecting them to organizational decision-making. This enables the utilization of previously individual-dependent knowledge to become entrenched within the company as a reproducible process.

■ Core Technology: Structuring Knowledge through Patented Technologies
● Episode link® (Patent No. 7620361)
A technology that extracts and structures the underlying values and decision-making criteria from an individual's experiences (episodes). It goes beyond mere information organization to visualize the 'essence of decision-making.'

● Tsunagaru AI® Platform (Patent No. 7755836)
Integrates internal knowledge within the organization with external knowledge, such as generative AI, to build an AI environment with the company's unique decision-making axes.

■ Human Resources: The Key 'Knowledge Coordinator'
In this initiative, we will train 'Knowledge Coordinators' within the company as a new role responsible for AI utilization.

These personnel will be responsible for:
- Designing questions to draw out honest opinions
- Commercializing knowledge gained from dialogue
- Designing optimal AI utilization
They will serve as the core for circulating organizational knowledge.

■ Expected Effects
- Visualization and sharing of employee experiences and tacit knowledge
- Improvement in the quality and speed of decision-making
- Promotion of new business creation
- Elimination of the perception gap between management and the frontline
- Breaking away from external dependency (transition to a self-driving organization)

■ Representative Comments
Katsunori Kono, Representative Director, Japan Communication Academy Co., Ltd.

'I view AI not as an entity that provides answers, but as an entity that reflects the inside of a person.
The source of a company's competitiveness is not data, but the experiences and passion behind it.

Through this initiative, we will draw out the 'value that has not yet been put into words' dormant within the organization,
realizing a mechanism where companies continue to evolve on their own.'

■ Company Overview
Japan Communication Academy Co., Ltd. (COMAC)

Representative Director: Katsunori Kono
Location: 1F, 3-7-1 Zoshigaya, Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Business Activities: Provision of organizational development through AI × dialogue, joint R&D, and joint business development

TSUMUGU Co., Ltd.

Representative: Representative Director Akinori Bisaiji
Location: 17th Floor, World Trade Center Building South Tower, 2-4-1 Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Business Activities: Management consulting, provision of human resource development services
URL: https://tsumugu-partners.co.jp/

■ Inquiries
Japan Communication Academy Co., Ltd. (COMAC)
Email: info@comac.jp
URL: https://www.comac.jp/

■ Supplementary Information
* 'Episode link®' and 'Tsunagaru AI®' are registered trademarks and patented technologies of Japan Communication Academy Co., Ltd.