FOURDIGIT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with National Institute of Technology, Tokuyama College (“Tokuyama College,” a Kosen institution) to establish an ongoing educational partnership. As part of this collaboration, FOURDIGIT delivered a three-day service design education program at Tokuyama College from Friday, June 5 to Sunday, June 7, 2026.

FOURDIGIT has been developing service design education programs across Southeast Asia, building a track record of collaboration with universities in Thailand. In February 2026, the company delivered a joint Japan–Thailand training workshop at KOSEN-KMITL, a national technical college (Kosen) in Thailand, in which four students from Tokuyama College also took part (see: https://www.4digit.com/en/topics/260415).

 

Faculty members from Tokuyama College who observed their students’ engagement during that workshop requested that a similar program be held at their own campus, giving students the opportunity to learn design thinking in English. This request led directly to the workshop and MOU signed this time. Notably, students who had completed the earlier training in Thailand returned as facilitators for this program, passing on what they had learned to the next group of students.

 

Tokuyama College places strong emphasis on its STEAM curriculum for first- and second-year students, including its “Project-Based Problem Discovery” course, as well as international exchange, with the aim of nurturing engineers capable of working globally.

The workshop brought together FOURDIGIT staff, three facilitators who had previously participated in the KOSEN-KMITL joint training, 12 students (second- through fifth-year), and 7 faculty members — 25 participants in total. Working on the theme of “elderly care,” participants completed a full service design cycle over three days: persona development, customer journey mapping, problem identification, service ideation, scenario building, and final presentations.

 

On June 5, FOURDIGIT also held a Faculty Development (FD) seminar for approximately 50 educators on the importance of design thinking and service design in the digital era.

The MOU is intended to establish a long-term framework for collaboration between FOURDIGIT and Tokuyama College. Going forward, the two organizations plan to build a system in which past workshop participants continue to guide new students, creating a self-sustaining cycle of learning. The partnership also anticipates future collaboration with other Kosen institutions overseas, including KOSEN-KMITL.

“To further enrich our educational activities, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on educational collaboration with FOURDIGIT Inc. As part of this partnership, we held a three-day service design education program this June with the company’s support. Through the program, students learned an end-to-end process — from analyzing customers’ underlying needs and defining problems, to designing UX solutions and building the business models to support them. I was struck by how actively the students exchanged ideas and persevered through difficult questions. This program was also notable for having students who had taken part in the February 2026 joint Japan–Thailand workshop at KOSEN-KMITL return as facilitators, supporting their juniors’ learning. Seeing these students grow into a role of teaching others was a clear demonstration of the results of our international education initiatives. In addition, the accompanying Faculty Development seminar for our teaching staff was a meaningful step toward the continued advancement of our educational programs. We look forward to further practical, forward-looking educational initiatives in partnership with FOURDIGIT.”

“This opportunity grew out of the chance to offer and receive feedback on part of our service design program in Bangkok, Thailand, through a KOSEN international exchange initiative — which in turn led to this program at Tokuyama College in Japan. Despite the challenges of using English-language materials and running the program right after final exams, the students remained impressively focused throughout. With strong support from the faculty, who watched over the students with warmth and encouragement, everyone made it through to the final presentations. Through this service design program, I believe the students learned to think for themselves and engage with questions that don’t have a single right answer. In real-world work, no matter how thoroughly you consider a problem from every angle, there’s rarely one guaranteed path to success. I hope that, in their future studies, students will look beyond technical craftsmanship to also value communication, and find joy in working and creating together with others.”

As the digital economy grows rapidly across Southeast Asia, there is a significant shortage of talent with extensive design experience. This gap is also reflected in the educational sector. The field of design requires a broad perspective that integrates business and technology, yet opportunities to gain these practical skills remain scarce. Consequently, companies struggle to find qualified talent, leading to high post-hiring training costs.

 

Driven by the desire to address these local recruitment challenges and to promote design as a vital industrial solution, FOURDIGIT has partnered with Thai universities to apply its accumulated expertise to human resource development. In 2025 alone, FOURDIGIT provided design programs to six universities.

 

FOURDIGIT provides service design, branding, UX design, and continuous improvement support across Japan and Southeast Asia, including corporate training. The company also leads projects in Okinawa that combine regional problem-solving with digital design talent cultivation. Leveraging these experiences, FOURDIGIT is committed to accelerating organizational growth in Thailand, reducing corporate training costs, and actively contributing to the evolution of design education.

National Institute of Technology (KOSEN), Tokuyama College

 

・ President: Megumi Abe, Ph.D.
・ Location: Gakuendai, Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
・ URL: https://www.tokuyama.ac.jp/index.html