【IVS Official Side Event】Impact Kyoto Hackathon 2026: Agentic AI for Japan's Future
Impact Kyoto 2026: Agentic AI for Japan’s Future
Build AI That Creates Real Impact.
Approval Number: 4501100052
Event Overview
Impact Kyoto 2026 is an international Agentic AI Hackathon bringing together students, developers, researchers, founders, designers, AI engineers, and innovation enthusiasts to build practical AI solutions for Japan’s future.
Japan is facing major challenges, including an aging population, workforce shortages, tourism growth, SME productivity gaps, and the need for faster digital transformation. Agentic AI creates a new opportunity to solve these challenges through systems that can reason, plan, use tools, make decisions, and complete real tasks with human collaboration.
This is not just a coding competition.
It is a practical buildathon where participants create AI systems that can move beyond simple conversation and deliver execution. Teams will work on ideas that can support people, organizations, cities, communities, and industries in Japan and beyond.
Kyoto represents tradition, intelligence, creativity, and cultural depth. Impact Kyoto brings this spirit together with the next generation of AI builders to create solutions that are useful, scalable, and grounded in real needs.
Core Theme
Agentic AI for Japan’s Future
Participants will build AI powered solutions that address real challenges in Japan and create measurable social, educational, business, and community impact.
The future of AI is not just conversation. It is execution.
Why Agentic AI?
Traditional AI answers questions.
Agentic AI can plan, reason, use APIs and tools, take action, automate workflows, and work together with humans.
At Impact Kyoto 2026, participants will explore how autonomous AI systems can help solve real problems across education, tourism, healthcare, productivity, sustainability, and society.
Challenge Areas
Education and Careers
Build AI tutors, career advisors, research assistants, learning agents, skill development tools, and student support systems.
Goal: Help learners, students, and job seekers access better guidance, support, and opportunities.
2. Tourism and Smart Cities
Build travel agents, navigation assistants, local discovery tools, multilingual support systems, and smart city services.
Goal: Improve the experience of visitors, residents, local businesses, and city communities.
3. Healthcare and Aging Society
Build care assistants, accessibility tools, elderly support systems, health guidance agents, and community care solutions.
Goal: Support Japan’s aging society with human centered AI solutions that improve dignity, safety, and daily life.
4. Startup and SME Productivity
Build sales agents, operations agents, customer support agents, workflow automation systems, and business productivity tools.
Goal: Help startups, small businesses, and local companies work faster and smarter with AI.
5. Sustainability and Social Impact
Build environmental tools, community support platforms, social impact agents, and AI systems that help solve local and global problems.
Goal: Use AI to create meaningful impact for society, communities, and the planet.
5. Open Impact Track (Wildcard)
Have a strong problem not listed above?
If it:
Solves a real societal issue
Uses AI meaningfully
Has a clear impact path
You are welcome to pitch and build it.
What Makes This Hackathon Different
Impact > Hype
Teams are evaluated on real-world usefulness, not flashy demos.Vibe Coding Friendly
Use AI copilots, LLMs, APIs, low-code tools, or custom models—whatever helps you build fast and think clearly.Global + Tokyo Context
Solutions should work locally and scale globally.Interdisciplinary Teams
Developers, designers, business thinkers, researchers, and storytellers are all equally valued.
Deliverables
Each team will submit:
A working prototype (web, app, system, or demo)
A clear problem statement and target users
Impact explanation (who benefits, how, and why it matters)
AI architecture overview (simple and honest)
Deployment or scalability vision
Judging Criteria
Problem Relevance & Social Impact
Effectiveness of AI Usage (not forced, not shallow)
Human-Centered Design
Technical Feasibility & Scalability
Clarity of Vision & Storytelling
Who Should Join
Students and researchers
Startup founders and early builders
Designers and product thinkers
AI engineers and automation specialists
Anyone who believes technology should serve people
No prior hackathon experience required—only curiosity and intent.
If you have any questions feel free to message our organizers :
Farhan Morshed
Irfan Faisal
https://www.linkedin.com/in/faisal-irfan-13417nf/
Kosuke Ai
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100081555861805
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kosuke-ai-16b943243/
Organizers
Cognisor
Co-Host
TIU Impact Next
Creators Circuit
Next AI Leaders
Next AI Leaders (@NextAILeaders) is a Japanese community that brings together next-generation AI developers and business development professionals. Their mission is to accelerate the real-world social implementation of AI and to shape what becomes the future standard in the field. It's essentially a hub for up-and-coming AI talent on both the technical and business sides in Japan.
Gusto Development
Gusto Development, Inc. is a Japanese tech company founded in October 2022. Their vision is "Development for the future — creating tomorrow through technology." They offer custom system development and digital transformation services, with expertise spanning AI, blockchain, and cloud computing. Essentially, they serve as a hands-on tech partner helping businesses across industries innovate and grow through tailored, cutting-edge solutions.
Sponsors/Tools
Lovable
Lovable is an AI product building platform that helps users create, test, and launch web apps faster using simple prompts. It is designed for founders, developers, students, and builders who want to turn ideas into working products quickly.
For Impact Kyoto 2026, Lovable is providing:
1 Month Lovable Pro Plan
Free for all participants
This will help hackathon participants build real working demos, create AI powered products, test ideas faster, and ship their projects during the hackathon.
ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is one of the world’s leading Voice AI platforms, helping builders create realistic voices, AI voice agents, multilingual audio, and voice powered applications.
For Impact Kyoto 2026, ElevenLabs is providing:
For the champion team
3 Months ElevenLabs Pro Plan
Up to 3 team members
Total prize value: $298 plus
For all participants
Creator Plan for all participants (Worth $22 plus)
API credits for all participants
Access to premium Voice AI tools
Build AI voice agents and applications
This support will help participants build faster, experiment with advanced voice technology, and create more human, useful, and impactful AI solutions during the hackathon.
Partners
Tokyo Design
Tokyo Design is an AI-native, design-led community for product designers, developers, and builders who want to grow their UX careers in Japan and beyond. Based in Tokyo with 1,000+ members, the group runs practical workshops, design jams, hackathons, and expert-led talks that bridge theory and real-world product work.
Ujjibon
Ujjibon BD is an AI-powered career platform dedicated to helping Bangladeshi students and professionals build meaningful careers through personalized job matching, ATS-optimized resumes, and interview support. By combining an AI career assistant, smart job-recommendation engine, and a curated talent marketplace, Ujjibon makes it easier for job seekers to get discovered and for employers to hire pre-vetted candidates across Bangladesh and beyond.
Judge & Mentors
Kosuke AI
Kosuke Ai is the Founder and CEO of GustoDevelopment Inc., specializing in AI, blockchain, enterprise DX, product strategy, and global engineering leadership. He leads a multinational team of over 70 engineers across Japan, Pakistan, and India, supporting software development, systems development, and blockchain consulting. As a Judge and Mentor for Impact Kyoto Hackathon 2026, he will guide builders in turning AI driven ideas into practical solutions.
Katsutoshi Tabata
Katsutoshi Tabata is the CEO of Anylens and an alumnus of Alchemist Accelerator Batch 41. He brings expertise in AI governance, product leadership, software engineering, risk management, and responsible AI adoption. As a Judge and Mentor for Impact Kyoto Hackathon 2026, he will support builders with practical guidance on responsible AI, product thinking, and real world AI deployment.
Prof. Eric Hawkinson
Prof. Eric Hawkinson is a Professor of Learning Technology at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, specializing in AI, learning design, VR, AR, and immersive education. As a Learning Futurist and Educational Technology Researcher, he brings deep expertise in the future of learning and technology driven education. At Impact Kyoto Hackathon 2026, he will support participants with guidance, feedback, and insight to help them strengthen their ideas and prototypes.