The Japanese government is offering a prize pool of ¥600 million (roughly $3.8 million) to local companies, institutes and organizations that can demonstrate using a domestically developed foundation model, how AI can solve shortage of labour in essential workers.
Under the AI contest “GENIAC-PRIZE 2026,” the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) is offering ¥600 million under Social Issues Theme to participants who can demonstrate how “AI-powered business process reform to address the shortage of essential workers.”
Although Japan’s unemployment rate sits at 2.5-2.6%, the shrinking working age-population in the country has ensured that several companies face staff shortage. According to official data, more than one person out of 10 in Japan is above 80 years of age and three out of 10 are above 65 years.
The Japanese government hopes artificial intelligence will help the country deal with workforce shortage by increasing efficiency especially in critical industries such as fisheries forestry among others. Therefore the contest has a deliberately broad brief covering healthcare, logistics, agriculture, public-sector work and beyond, not confined to any single industry.
This project evaluates the results of business process reforms that contribute to alleviating the shortage of essential workers. Various AI technologies, including generative AI, can be utilized. Systems combining generative AI and conventional AI are also eligible. However, this project requires applications to utilize a domestically developed platform model for development and demonstration,” read a statement from the organizers of GENIAC 2026.
The contest runs under NEDO’s prize-based R&D scheme known as “NEDO Challenge,” and sits under the broader GENIAC initiative that METI and NEDO launched in February 2024 to strengthen Japan’s domestic generative AI capabilities.
Eligibility is limited to entities registered in Japan and overseas companies can participate provided they designate a Japan-based lead. The contest requires participants to be actual AI users within their respective enterprise’ operations –through either developing in-house AI tools or partnering with a developer.
The application deadline is September 30, 2026, at noon, with final proposal documents and a mandatory demo video (capped at three minutes) due by the end of November 2026. Winners will be decided by an evaluation committee yet to be announced.
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