University of Tsukuba holds Japan-U.S. AI Collaboration Kickoff Ceremony

On April 23, a ceremony was held at the University of Tsukuba's Tokyo campus to announce the start of a full-fledged Japan-U.S. AI partnership among the University of Tsukuba, the University of Washington in Seattle, NVIDIA, and Amazon.

The Japan-U.S. AI partnership known as the Cross-Pacific AI Initiative (X-PAI) was agreed upon in principle last April in the U.S. capital of Washington, DC, for the purposes of research, human resource development, entrepreneurship, and social implementation in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The University of Tsukuba and the University of Washington, along with NVIDIA and Amazon, will participate in the program, which will provide $50 million (approximately 7.5 billion yen) in support over a 10-year period.

Representatives from the University of Washington, NVIDIA, and Amazon attended the ceremony, along with officials from the U.S. Embassy in Japan, Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Many people from various companies, both in Japan and abroad, also participated.

In his opening remarks, University of Tsukuba President NAGATA Kyosuke emphasized the importance of international collaboration between Japan and the U.S. in industry and academia, and expressed hope that this project will lead to social implementation in the field of AI.

SAKURAI Tetsuya, co-director of the Cross-Pacific AI Initiative (X-PAI), gave an overview of the partnership and the AI education and research hub which is scheduled for completion in 2026.

Also speaking were Jenq-Neng Hwang, co-director of the Cross-Pacific AI Initiative (X-PAI) at the University of Washington; Anne Szeto, Director of Academic Research Initiatives at Amazon; and Jack Wells, Director of Higher Education and Research Computing at NVIDIA.