Launch of Industry-Academia Collaboration with Kyutech ARISE to Build a Circular Talent Development Ecosystem
NTT DATA GSL and Kyutech ARISE are partnering starting April 2026 to build a circular talent development ecosystem for SAP and IT infrastructure talent in Kyushu.
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- 📰 Published: April 2, 2026 at 19:00
- 🔍 Collected: April 2, 2026 at 14:02
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 21, 2026 at 06:04 (448h 1m after Collected)
NTT DATA Global Solutions Corporation (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Chihiro Kimura; hereinafter NTT DATA GSL) will enter into a partnering agreement starting April 2026 with Kyutech ARISE Corporation (Headquarters: Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture; Representative Director and President & Executive Officer: Shojiro Mine; hereinafter Kyutech ARISE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kyushu Institute of Technology, a national university corporation.
Through this agreement, we aim to deploy talent development and startup support via industry-academia collaboration, centered in the Kyushu region, towards the rest of Japan and the Asian region. We will jointly build a sustainable talent development ecosystem based on a cycle of 'Learning -> Practice -> Regional Contribution', where people learn locally, apply their skills practically, and enhance Japan's overall competitiveness starting from the regions. By doing so, we will address the social issue of the shortage of IT infrastructure talent, including SAP, which is becoming particularly important and severe in the IT sector.
[Background]
In Japan, the shortage of IT talent is becoming severe, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimating a shortfall of up to approximately 790,000 people by 2030 (Note 1). The impact is especially significant in regional areas due to the uneven distribution of talent. In the Kyushu-Okinawa district, the number of bankruptcies in the software industry has reached a record high, beginning to directly affect business continuity. Furthermore, a Teikoku Databank survey shows that 51.4% of companies nationwide are experiencing a shortage of full-time employees, with 69.9% in the information services industry feeling the pinch (Note 2), indicating a further widening of the supply-demand gap.
Against this backdrop, there is a demand for universities and companies to collaborate in connecting practical learning with employment. Kyutech ARISE takes on the role of reskilling and employment support as the first invested subsidiary of the Kyushu Institute of Technology. NTT DATA GSL possesses training expertise cultivated through its in-house university 'GSL University', which supports the growth of employees and the organization, and SAP education. The collaboration of both parties establishes a foundation to accelerate the circulation of talent in the region.
[Overview]
This agreement aims to build a talent development ecosystem originating in Kyushu, where universities and companies collaborate to continuously circulate learning, practice, and regional contribution. By ensuring students and working adults who have learned in the region apply their learning to practice, contributing to the revitalization of the Kyushu region and further strengthening Japan's overall competitiveness, we aim to sustain the talent development mechanism continuously.
By connecting NTT DATA GSL's practical knowledge and SAP training framework to Kyutech ARISE's educational programs in DX, AI, and advanced software, we provide a learning environment that fuses the specialized knowledge of the university with the practical knowledge of the enterprise.
Furthermore, we will promote startup support for students and working adults, as well as demonstration projects with regional companies and local governments, establishing a system to implement learning outcomes back into the region. The target area will expand from Kyushu to nationwide and Asia. By establishing a circular model where talent is nurtured and continues to thrive within the region, we aim to mitigate the risks of talent misdistribution and business continuity disruption, thereby raising the baseline of industrial competitiveness.
Through this collaboration, we will roll out activities aligned with the following objectives:
1. Contribution to Regional Talent Development and Social Value Creation
Addressing the IT talent shortage issue faced by the Kyushu region, we will tackle SAP talent development, an area of expertise for NTT DATA GSL. By contributing to the improvement of educational quality and the revitalization of regional industries in cooperation with the university, we will work to solve social issues such as correcting the over-concentration of talent supply in Tokyo, expanding the SAP market through the promotion of digital utilization, and raising the corporate competitiveness of Japan as a whole starting from Kyushu.
2. Building a Joint Research Foundation Leading to Value Creation Through Industry-Academia Unity
We will consider promoting joint research that leverages mutual strengths by connecting the advanced knowledge possessed by the university with the frontline challenges of companies. We believe that by tackling technical and operational themes alongside the university that are difficult to solve alone, we can improve the speed and quality of problem-solving. In addition, by grasping the seeds of new businesses and the buds of innovation at an early stage through research activities and collaboration with students, we aim to connect this to new value creation as a company.
[Comments from Each Company]
Mr. Shojiro Mine, Representative Director and President & Executive Officer, Kyutech ARISE Corporation
'Kyutech ARISE is a talent development platform responsible for social transformation that returns the technological insights and educational resources of the Kyushu Institute of Technology to society. I believe this collaboration represents a new form of industry-academia partnership that merges the specialized knowledge of the university with the rich insights possessed by NTT DATA Global Solutions, advancing talent development, practical application, and value return to the region as a unified whole.'
Through this agreement, we aim to deploy talent development and startup support via industry-academia collaboration, centered in the Kyushu region, towards the rest of Japan and the Asian region. We will jointly build a sustainable talent development ecosystem based on a cycle of 'Learning -> Practice -> Regional Contribution', where people learn locally, apply their skills practically, and enhance Japan's overall competitiveness starting from the regions. By doing so, we will address the social issue of the shortage of IT infrastructure talent, including SAP, which is becoming particularly important and severe in the IT sector.
[Background]
In Japan, the shortage of IT talent is becoming severe, with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry estimating a shortfall of up to approximately 790,000 people by 2030 (Note 1). The impact is especially significant in regional areas due to the uneven distribution of talent. In the Kyushu-Okinawa district, the number of bankruptcies in the software industry has reached a record high, beginning to directly affect business continuity. Furthermore, a Teikoku Databank survey shows that 51.4% of companies nationwide are experiencing a shortage of full-time employees, with 69.9% in the information services industry feeling the pinch (Note 2), indicating a further widening of the supply-demand gap.
Against this backdrop, there is a demand for universities and companies to collaborate in connecting practical learning with employment. Kyutech ARISE takes on the role of reskilling and employment support as the first invested subsidiary of the Kyushu Institute of Technology. NTT DATA GSL possesses training expertise cultivated through its in-house university 'GSL University', which supports the growth of employees and the organization, and SAP education. The collaboration of both parties establishes a foundation to accelerate the circulation of talent in the region.
[Overview]
This agreement aims to build a talent development ecosystem originating in Kyushu, where universities and companies collaborate to continuously circulate learning, practice, and regional contribution. By ensuring students and working adults who have learned in the region apply their learning to practice, contributing to the revitalization of the Kyushu region and further strengthening Japan's overall competitiveness, we aim to sustain the talent development mechanism continuously.
By connecting NTT DATA GSL's practical knowledge and SAP training framework to Kyutech ARISE's educational programs in DX, AI, and advanced software, we provide a learning environment that fuses the specialized knowledge of the university with the practical knowledge of the enterprise.
Furthermore, we will promote startup support for students and working adults, as well as demonstration projects with regional companies and local governments, establishing a system to implement learning outcomes back into the region. The target area will expand from Kyushu to nationwide and Asia. By establishing a circular model where talent is nurtured and continues to thrive within the region, we aim to mitigate the risks of talent misdistribution and business continuity disruption, thereby raising the baseline of industrial competitiveness.
Through this collaboration, we will roll out activities aligned with the following objectives:
1. Contribution to Regional Talent Development and Social Value Creation
Addressing the IT talent shortage issue faced by the Kyushu region, we will tackle SAP talent development, an area of expertise for NTT DATA GSL. By contributing to the improvement of educational quality and the revitalization of regional industries in cooperation with the university, we will work to solve social issues such as correcting the over-concentration of talent supply in Tokyo, expanding the SAP market through the promotion of digital utilization, and raising the corporate competitiveness of Japan as a whole starting from Kyushu.
2. Building a Joint Research Foundation Leading to Value Creation Through Industry-Academia Unity
We will consider promoting joint research that leverages mutual strengths by connecting the advanced knowledge possessed by the university with the frontline challenges of companies. We believe that by tackling technical and operational themes alongside the university that are difficult to solve alone, we can improve the speed and quality of problem-solving. In addition, by grasping the seeds of new businesses and the buds of innovation at an early stage through research activities and collaboration with students, we aim to connect this to new value creation as a company.
[Comments from Each Company]
Mr. Shojiro Mine, Representative Director and President & Executive Officer, Kyutech ARISE Corporation
'Kyutech ARISE is a talent development platform responsible for social transformation that returns the technological insights and educational resources of the Kyushu Institute of Technology to society. I believe this collaboration represents a new form of industry-academia partnership that merges the specialized knowledge of the university with the rich insights possessed by NTT DATA Global Solutions, advancing talent development, practical application, and value return to the region as a unified whole.'