Tsukuba Conference 2025 was held at the Tsukuba International Congress Center from October 1 to 3, 2025.
On October 2, the Center for Computational Sciences (CCS) co-organized a special session titled “Smart Cities and Digital Health Futures” with Bulgaria’s GATE Institute. Speakers from the GATE Institute, the University of Tsukuba’s Institute of Medicine and Institute of Engineering, Information and Systems, and the Saitama Institute of Environmental Sciences shared insights from diverse perspectives including medicine, urban science, and meteorology. The session provided a valuable opportunity to discuss future collaborations between GATE and the University of Tsukuba.

[Click here for the session program.]

On October 4, the University of Tsukuba and the GATE Institute signed a comprehensive partnership agreement at the Bulgaria Pavilion of Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai.

Prof. Sylvia Ilieva, Director of the GATE Institute, attended online, and H.E. Ms. Marieta Arabadjieva, Ambassador of Bulgaria to Japan, participated onsite. From the University of Tsukuba, President Nagata attended and signed the MoU. Attendees onsite were CCS Director Prof. Shigeta, Prof. Boku, Prof. Kusaka, and Assoc. Prof. Doan from CCS, Prof. Fujii from the Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba, and Researcher Vitanova from the GATE Institute engaged in discussions on future collaboration.

Left: H.E. Marieta Arabadjieva, Ambassador of Bulgaria to Japan;
Right: Prof. NAGATA Kyosuke, President of the University of Tsukuba.

The GATE Institute serves as a hub for fundamental and applied research, innovation, and education in big data and AI with strong societal impact. CCS has long collaborated with GATE, particularly in the field of meteorology—an essential domain for building smart societies. Going forward, we will expand our joint efforts to include digital health and smart cities, promoting research that contributes to both academic advancement and societal benefit.