MERGE 2026 Draws Over 300 To Nishi-Shinjuku For AI-Era Manufacturing
The turnout and the session list show the current center of gravity in Japanese AI talks has moved from model demos to the parts of product work that models do not settle on their own: interface design, 0 to 1 scoping, and the handoff between human and agent.
Reporting from 1 source: ASCII.jp.
PROTOCORE and GustoDevelopment held MERGE 2026, a conference on AI-driven development and design, on Saturday, August 8, 2026, at Sakura Internet's Nishi-Shinjuku office in Tokyo and online. More than 300 engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and business developers attended. The program ran five sessions on design, agent-driven development, 0 to 1 business building, UI/UX in 2050, and AI new-business launch, plus finals and awards for the AI Designathon 2026 hackathon.
The conference ran in a single day, split between Sakura Internet's Nishi-Shinjuku office and an online stream, and drew engineers, designers, entrepreneurs, and business developers rather than a specialist crowd. PROTOCORE CEO Rei Sonoda and GustoDevelopment organized it around AI-driven development and design.
Five sessions carried the day. They covered the lowering barrier to implementation, agent-driven development from requirements to testing, how AI changes 0 to 1 business building, interface design past the screen, and the path from AI business concept to deployment. The AI Designathon 2026 finals and awards closed the program.
- Session 1: Democratization of 'Making': on the shifting boundary between professionals and non-experts and the role of UI/UX and design
- Session 2: Agent-Driven Development: on development processes where AI handles requirements, implementation, and testing alongside humans
- Session 3: Redefining 0 to 1: on how cheaper, faster MVP development changes 0 to 1 business building
- Session 4: UI/UX in 2050: on human-technology relationships and experience design beyond screen-centric interfaces
- Session 5: The Frontline of AI x New Business Launch: on taking AI-powered businesses past the conceptual stage into society
- AI Designathon 2026 finals and awards: hackathon final presentations and awards held at the event
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.