MOL Sponsors MIT Educational Programs, Supporting High School Students as They Take on a Global Competition

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (President & CEO: Jotaro Tamura; Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; hereinafter "MOL") continued its support this year for the Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) (Note 1), a STEM education program for high school students offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., and GLOBAL TECH (Note 2), its Japan qualifying competition.

GLOBAL TECH Japan Competition

The GLOBAL TECH Japan Competition, held in June 2026, brought together 32 junior and senior high school students from eight schools. During the three months leading up to the competition, participants learned topics ranging from programming fundamentals to image recognition technology used in autonomous driving, and built small autonomous vehicles. On the day of the competition, teams of two to five students took part in the race. Some teams struggled when their vehicles did not perform as expected, but it was inspiring to see every team work together and give their best until the very end.
The first-place team received the MOL Award, the second-place team the MOL Cruises Award, and the third-place team the MOL Sunflower Award.

Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix

The Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix (Note 3), one of the BWSI programs, was held at MIT in August 2026. Three members of the Japanese team that won the GLOBAL TECH Japan Competition participated. A total of 14 teams from the United States, Canada, Greece, Italy, and Japan gathered for the event. The venue was filled with excitement as the teams raced vehicles they had prepared using their own creative programming approaches.
Suzuka, MOL Executive Officer responsible for the Americas, and employees of MOL (Americas) Holdings came to cheer on the Japanese team. It was highly encouraging to see students from around the world—future leaders in their fields—work as teams to tackle the race and interact beyond the boundaries of team and nationality.

Post-Program Debriefing

In September, after the new school term began, MOL invited the three members of the Japanese team that competed in the global competition to its head office for a debriefing session. Their week-plus stay in Boston appears to have been a valuable opportunity not only to deepen their technical knowledge, but also to broaden their perspectives and gain fresh inspiration through interactions with participants from around the world.
The three students also toured MOL's Safety Operation Supporting Center (SOSC) and a dynamic positioning (DP) simulator operated by MOL Maritex Co., Ltd. By seeing firsthand how advanced technologies support safety at sea, they further deepened their understanding of the shipping industry.

MOL identifies "Inspiring the Next Generation" as one of the priority areas of its social contribution activities. The company supports children who will shape the future while also working to convey the appeal of the shipping industry. By sponsoring the MIT educational programs, MOL helps provide students who will lead the next generation with opportunities to deepen their interest in advanced technologies connected to the future of shipping, learn from one another across national and regional boundaries, and develop the ability to take on challenges and solve problems. The MOL Group will continue to support students in Japan and around the world who will shape the future through a variety of initiatives.

(Note 1) STEM education refers to educational programs that integrate four fields: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. BWSI is a STEM education program for high school students organized by MIT Beaver Works, one of MIT's research organizations. Through project-based workshops, students learn about cutting-edge technologies and engineering skills currently being developed and implemented in the real world. BWSI offers more than 10 programs, covering areas such as autonomous driving technology, cybersecurity, medical data analysis, and remote sensing for disaster response.

(Note 2) GLOBAL TECH is a technology education program for junior and senior high school students in Japan operated by ICHINOYA Co., Ltd. with the support of MIT Beaver Works. Using the same teaching materials as MIT, students gain practical experience in the fundamentals of programming and autonomous driving technology by developing small autonomous vehicles. The team that places first in the Japan competition advances to the global competition, the Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix, held at MIT.

(Note 3) The Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix, one of the BWSI programs, is a race in which teams program an MIT-developed autonomous vehicle to navigate the course and compete for the fastest time. The course includes obstacles and shortcuts, requiring teams to design and execute control algorithms capable of responding to these features.

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