This is an AI research institute specializing in natural language processing research, established by Works Applications in Tokushima Prefecture in February 2017.

HUE, the cloud-based ERP package software developed by Works, utilizes operation log data accumulated within a company as training data for machine learning.

The institute is conducting research specifically on business applications of natural language processing in order to commercialize AI functions that better meet user needs based on the analysis and understanding of user speech and text data.

What is Natural Language Processing (NLP)?

Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a general term for the technologies and software that enable computers to process human languages, such as Japanese and English; it is a field within artificial intelligence and linguistics.
It is used in a wide variety of scenarios, ranging from kana-kanji conversion during keyboard input to fuzzy search and speech recognition functions.

Activities

The Institute has released open source NLP tools and language resources (morphological analysis "Sudachi") to Japan and the English-speaking world. We also present our research at conferences, workshops, and seminars.

Release of the morphological analyzer OSS "Sudachi

In August 2017, we released the morphological analyzer "Sudachi" as open software.

“Sudachi” is a morphological analyzer that combines the flexibility and accuracy lacking in existing analyzers, offering high-quality analysis performance suitable for commercial use.
It can be utilized for various analysis processes, such as reading text from images and PDFs, as well as in chatbots that use AI-powered automated conversation programs to obtain necessary information through conversational interactions.

By improving the accuracy of "Sudachi" and expanding the scope of its use, we aim to realize AI functions that fit the operations of a wide variety of companies.

In May 2008, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) established the "Study Group for Digital Transformation (DX)" to organize the current issues and consider measures to address them in order for Japanese companies to realize DX, focusing on the state of IT systems, and compiled a DX report.

The report recommended the need to establish guidelines and DX promotion indicators so that there is shared recognition of the approaches and necessary actions to realize DX, and the initiative has begun to take off.

[Resource] DX Report - Overcoming the IT System "2025 Cliff" and Full-Scale Deployment of DX

IPA is involved in the revision of the above guidelines for DX, the creation of evaluation indicators related to IT indicators, and the development of benchmarks, and our employees have been seconded to IPA to participate in this project.

Moving forward, the public and private sectors will need to work together, and companies will need to rebuild their IT systems and recruit and train DX talent to advance digital transformation.
We have provided proposals for business improvement and efficiency to over 2,000 clients without requiring company-specific customization.

By leveraging this expertise and generalizing the diverse business requirements and commercial practices required by companies—regardless of industry or business type—into “standard features,” we aim to contribute to the advancement of DX in Japanese companies through Products / Services that incorporate the needs of many customers and are updated regularly, without resorting to customization that creates “black boxes.”