Tokyo Univ. Matsuo Lab’s visit to ZIM - JICA Volunteer Contributing to Shaping the Country’s AI Ecosystem

Ms. Mayui Kitamoto, a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JOCV) at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT), has collaborated with the university's Innovation Hub and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Centre to build a collaborative platform between the Matsuo Laboratory (University of Tokyo), a top AI research institute in Japan, and the Zimbabwean higher education institution to promote AI education, AI research, and AI startup incubation, which will bring impactful social innovations.

This collaboration was spurred by the success of the Global Consumer Intelligence (GCI) AI Program, a free online course by Matsuo Lab that saw over 200 HIT students enrol since September 2025. Notably, HIT students demonstrated one of the highest continuation rates among 460 universities worldwide, leading to a historic visit by the Matsuo Lab delegates to Zimbabwe.

The visit, which included the brains behind the lab, Prof. Yutaka Matsuo, took place from 15 to 17 December 2025. The delegation convened at HIT for a closed-door innovation exchange with startups and a final in-person/online GCI lecture. At the end of the final lecture, 21 students were selected as the top performers out of 7,724 students who participated in the GCI course from around the world, four of whom were HIT students, a testament to the excellence and hard work of Zimbabwean students and a source of great inspiration and confidence not only to them but to other students as well. The four selected students will be invited to a study trip to Japan in March 2026, along with top performers from other countries.

Furthermore, with support from the JICA Zimbabwe office, the Matsuo Lab held strategic meetings with the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of ICT, the Great Zambezi Initiative (GZI), and the UNDP Zimbabwe office to discuss the future expansion of the GCI program in Zimbabwe and Africa, as well as the promotion of student-led AI startups that embody the national AI strategy.

The visit to Zimbabwe by Japan's top AI lab was a great success, with the following outcomes:

• Many Zimbabwean students gained the opportunity to learn AI, and even more Zimbabwean students will have the opportunity to learn AI through the Matsuo Lab's GCI online course.
• The excellence of Zimbabwean students and startups was highly praised, which served as an opportunity to foster motivation for further growth.　
• Potential collaboration between the Matsuo Lab and Zimbabwean higher education institutions as well as the Zimbabwean government on AI education, AI startup incubation, and the establishment of an AI ecosystem was discussed in a positive manner.
• With the continued support of the Matsuo Lab, a student-led AI working group is to be established to enable GCI course participants to continue their efforts for future growth, collaboration, and startup formation.

Through such initiatives, the future indeed looks bright for advancing AI education, research, the AI ecosystem, the startup ecosystem, and Zimbabwe’s real-world innovation capacity.