A laboratory to create the future
Co-founded the “Future Environment Laboratory” with BIPROGY Inc.
The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics (KCGI), Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG Group), and the Comprehensive Technology Research Institute of Nippon Unisys, Ltd. (now BIPROGY Inc.; headquartered in Koto-ku, Tokyo) entered into an industry-academia collaboration agreement on February 15, 2017, to establish a cooperative relationship in education and research.Based on this agreement, the “Future Environment Laboratory” was established on campus to provide opportunities for KCGI students and researchers from BIPROGY’s Comprehensive Technology Research Institute to interact with one another and collaborate on a wide range of academic and research projects.
The “Future Environment Laboratory” serves as a collaborative industry-academia platform where BIPROGY’s leading researchers, KCGI faculty members, and students with fresh ideas work together to advance joint projects.In addition, the lab will host special lectures, workshops, hackathons, and other events.
We hope that this collaboration will create seeds of ideas and solutions that lead to innovation, and lead to innovative use of IT. From these activities, we will promote human resources who can continue to challenge various fields, will become a driving force for the future of the IT society, and lead to the revitalization of the regions around us.
For more than 60 years, since delivering Japan’s first commercial computer, the BIPROGY Group has contributed to the development and growth of Japan’s information services industry by building systems that support society and industry and providing ICT services.By understanding the diverse needs of its customers and providing business solutions that support industries, the BIPROGY Group has continued to meet the needs of each era.
Furthermore, by leveraging the experience and expertise it has accumulated through ICT, the BIPROGY Group is building a business ecosystem that connects customers and partners from diverse industries with different strengths. As a digital commons that serves as a shared resource for society, the Group aims to develop this ecosystem into a platform that helps create a society where everyone can live happily.
What is the Future Environment Laboratory?
The Future Environment Laboratory is based on the concept of “A lab where you can catch a glimpse of the future—learn, play, think, and create.” Across a wide range of fields, including art, business, science, digital games, and engineering, participants envision what could become a reality five to ten years from now and work on developing prototypes.The pace of technological advancement and its application to society is remarkable, and the professionals of the future will be expected to demonstrate an even higher level of creativity.At the Future Environment Laboratory, we believe that “knowing what technologies exist in the world can spark new ideas” and that “the ability to turn ideas into reality can also be developed through practice.” We provide students with opportunities to view things from diverse perspectives and gain hands-on experience creating something entirely new that does not yet exist.
To give students opportunities to learn about emerging technologies, the Future Environment Laboratory has invited researchers from BIPROGY to hold technology exchange sessions, where students can explore the latest research findings and envision their future applications. The lab has also hosted “hackathons,” intensive events in which participants develop ideas, turn them into working prototypes, and present their results over the course of one to several days.Students and teachers, who are full of challenging spirit and curiosity, participate in each session, and heated exchanges of opinions and implementation work are developed.
Here you can meet different people, ideas, viewpoints and technologies. What you need to come here is a mind to create something. It's a bit strange, but it's definitely an exciting place for students. Please feel free to visit.
In An Open Atmosphere
It has been nine years since the Future Environment Laboratory was established.When the Future Environment Laboratory was first established, we focused on study sessions and hackathons on campus, as well as technology exchange sessions with researchers from BIPROGY and workshops on human-centered design.We subsequently expanded our activities beyond the university, organizing open data hackathons in collaboration with government agencies, companies, and technology communities; hosting and organizing study sessions on IoT and deep learning, including image recognition and machine translation; and conducting joint research with other universities and companies. As a result, the scope of the laboratory’s activities has expanded significantly.We will continue to provide opportunities to experience a variety of the latest technologies.
The Future Environment Laboratory is characterized by the participation of students, researchers, faculty members, and people from various organizations outside the university, providing fields that generate various ideas and prototypes. It is an open environment that maximizes the potential of students without being bound by the boundaries of classes or schools.We look forward to your participation.
Future Environment Laboratory Activities
The Future Environment Laboratory regularly holds seminars.In these seminars, participants give presentations on a wide range of topics, including their individual projects, findings from research into the latest technologies, and reports on events they have attended, followed by lively discussions.The seminars are often held on weekend evenings to make them accessible to working professionals. After each session, participants engage in lively discussions and then gather for informal social events in a relaxed atmosphere, providing an opportunity to build and expand their professional networks.The seminars are also held online using a “virtual office-style video conferencing app” developed by the Future Environment Laboratory.Because online seminars are not limited by geographical constraints, current students and alumni from the Sapporo and Tokyo satellite campuses can also participate more easily.
The Future Environment Laboratory also places a strong emphasis on research activities. We presented our research on distributed state sharing, which formed the foundation of the aforementioned video conferencing application, at an academic conference, and also conducted a tutorial and hackathon on the same topic at the conference.A research project by a seminar participant, titled “An Oral Care Activity Reporting System Using Form Services,” involved combining web services to digitize reports on oral care activities at dental clinics and medical facilities, with the aim of improving operational efficiency. The project was also presented at an academic conference.In addition, we are also working on educational and learning support initiatives, such as an automated system for checking programming assignments.
Held a Workshop to Explore the Future
The Future Environment Laboratory organizes participatory events, such as workshops and hackathons, for students across the KCG Group.In June 2023, the Future Environment Laboratory held a “ChatGPT / Generative AI Workshop,” where participants learned about the latest developments through lectures by Professor Emeritus Toru Ishida of Kyoto University, an expert in artificial intelligence, and Dr. Yoichiro Miyake, who conducts research on artificial intelligence in games at Square Enix and RIKEN. In group work sessions, participants also discussed and explored the future of generative AI.In September 2024, the Future Environment Laboratory held a workshop on “Object Recognition.” In December, with the support of Tonami Holdings Co., Ltd., a major logistics services company, it held a workshop on the theme of “Logistics × Generative AI,” where participants worked on solving real-world challenges facing society.In February 2026, the Future Environment Laboratory held a “Coding AI Workshop,” where participants engaged in lively discussions, including exploring how the field might change over the next few years.
In addition, the Future Environment Laboratory offers collaborative lectures by BIPROGY researchers, technology exchange sessions featuring the latest research findings, and a variety of study sessions.Students are also encouraged to participate in research and development projects led by corporate researchers and KCGI faculty members.Going forward, the Future Environment Laboratory will continue to provide opportunities for students, companies, and faculty members to actively exchange ideas and create together.
