The 15th International Symposium on ACG Culture and Technology and Bahamut Paper Award (ACGCT 2026)

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for The 15th International Symposium on ACG Culture and Technology and Bahamut Paper Award (ACGCT 2026), an annual academic forum dedicated to the development of anime, manga, and games (ACG) in their broadest sense, as well as the broader content and technology industries.

ACGCT was founded in 2012 by Mr. Liang Shihyu (RainReader), together with a community of researchers and industry practitioners committed to the study of ACG culture and industry across Asia. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the symposium since its inception.

Since the 3rd edition, ACGCT has established a sustained partnership with Bahamut (巴哈姆特), the largest comprehensive portal site in the Chinese-speaking world, and with the support of its CEO, Mr. Sega Chen, has co-organized the Bahamut Paper Award. Through substantial research grants and dedicated publication opportunities, the Award has served as an incubator for the next generation of ACG researchers and creators.

A Platform Bridging Academia and Industry

ACGCT is not an ivory tower confined to pure theoretical research, but rather an independent platform for research and social practice that embodies the founding principle of “collaboration between academia and industry, dialogue between culture and technology.” Beyond a substantial record of academic monographs and industry research reports, the organization has been directly engaged in real-world market projects, including board game and video game development, anime and manga production planning, music event management, and intellectual property licensing and rights management. Since 2023, ACGCT has also been actively engaged in commissioned research projects with content industry institutions across Asia, Europe, and North America.

As an interdisciplinary organization capable of genuinely bridging the rigor of academic inquiry with the dynamism of market economies, ACGCT occupies a distinctive position within the East Asian content ecosystem.

International Academic and Industry Networks

The cultivation of international academic and industry networks is among the symposium’s principal strengths. Following the first overseas co-hosting with Keio University in 2019, ACGCT has established regular collaborative relationships with major universities and research institutions worldwide. Distinguished researchers and public intellectuals who have given presentations at past symposia include Hiroki Azuma, Tsunehiro Uno, Thomas Lamarre, Martin Roth, and Dario Lolli, among others. Through these engagements, ACGCT has cultivated a multifaceted discursive space connecting East Asia with the broader international community.

ACG Research at a Moment of Structural Transformation

The content industries across Asia are presently undergoing a period of profound structural transformation. The rise of generative AI compels a fundamental reconsideration of creative ethics and intellectual property; platform sovereignty is undergoing significant reconfiguration; and emerging phenomena such as the VTuber economy, transnational co-production, and contents tourism are reshaping the relationships between creation and intellectual property, distribution and consumption, and culture and technology at every level.

At this moment of accelerating change, the academic community is called upon, more urgently than ever, to develop theoretical responses commensurate with these transformations.

ACGCT 2026 seeks to provide a venue for engaging this paradigm shift, examining ACG research critically and multidimensionally from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Conference Information

ACGCT 2026 will be held in early December 2026 at Kindai University, Japan.

We extend our sincere gratitude to Professor Okamoto of Kindai University, whose dedicated efforts and collaborative partnership have made the Japanese hosting of this symposium possible.

Details regarding co-organizing institutions, keynote speakers, and the full program will be announced progressively on the official website.

We warmly welcome submissions from scholars in the academic community, as well as case reports and presentations from practitioners at the forefront of the content industries.