The Kyoto University Division of Graduate Studies has been running the Kyoto University Short-Term Academic Research (KU-STAR) Program since last year. This marks the second time we’ve welcomed students from India, with 31 participants currently engaged in research at their respective labs for approximately two months.

As part of the program, a company information session with Fujitsu Limited was held on June 19, 2025, marking the halfway point of the program. According to Fujitsu’s webpage, the Fujitsu Group has operations in different regions around the world, including Japan, and provides digital services globally, which garners the No. 1 market share in Japan and a top-class position worldwide in the IT services field.　

Students listened intently as Fujitsu representatives detailed the company’s diverse business initiatives. The session began with Hidekazu Koshi, Senior Manager of the R&D HR Division, and Hirotaro Ohira, Manager of the Industry-Academia Collaboration Promotion Office. They provided a comprehensive explanation of Fujitsu’s cutting-edge technologies, research and development efforts, and corporate philosophy. Of particular interest to the students was the presentation by Dr. Koji Maruhashi, Research Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He discussed Fujitsu’s AI research and the real-world implementation of machine learning, which appeared to draw significant interest from the students in this domain.

Additionally, Ms. Shahla Sultana, Senior HR Manager at Fujitsu Research of India Private Limited (FRIPL), Fujitsu’s R&D hub in Bangalore, India, participated online. She provided an overview of FRIPL and discussed employment and internship opportunities, allowing students to gain a deeper understanding of Fujitsu’s global research framework, including its presence in India.

After the information session, students actively engaged the speakers with individual questions, both in-person and online, regarding research, internship, and employment opportunities.

The following comments were received from participating students:

• “I was surprised by the variety of research Fujitsu conducts. I was especially interested in their application of ML in the medical field, specifically their model which predicts the folding pathways of proteins, which is one of the most pressing issues in molecular biology today.” (Aryan, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad)

• “The main learning for me was that it’s not always wise to use LLMs everywhere.  It’s mostly much more efficient to use SLMs fine-tuned to the required domain which can thus deliver better results with lower computational costs.” (Varun, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay)

• “After the session, I had an online conversation with representatives of FRIPL, and asked if they have any opportunity for internship mainly for biology students.  They said they have started with interdisciplinary work and will also start taking people from different fields maybe including biology.” (Ankita, University of Delhi)

• “The Information Session conducted by Fujitsu was one of the most insightful and memorable sessions of the KU-STAR program for students like me, who are interested in the domains of Information Theory, Communication Systems, scalable Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. The session included an overview of the research and innovation directions pursued by the different branches of Fujitsu, including Fujitsu Research of India Pvt. Ltd. (FRIPL), located in the city of Bengaluru in India. I was amazed by the diversity of industries that Fujitsu demonstrated expertise in, such as AI, Networks, Quantum Computing and Enterprise Hardware. The session included an explanation of some of the projects and goals being pursued by the company in these domains. The overall motto of the company also resonated deeply with me and several other students who attended this program: “Make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation.”  I had the fortune to learn a lot about the company culture and efforts through the company officials who had arrived at Kyoto University to interact with us. Additionally, I was excited to listen to members of the FRIPL branch in Bengaluru, India, who had taken part in the session virtually. The company representatives also took the time to answer the questions of the students in attendance, and encouraged the KU-STAR students to apply for future opportunities at Fujitsu. Several students remained after the session to interact with company officials, both online and offline, regarding research directions and employment opportunities”.  (Vignesh, Indian Institute of Technology Madras)

This company information session was a valuable opportunity for students to consider the connection between their own research fields and society, and to contemplate their future careers.