Release of "Next Design V5.1" and "Next Design AI Tool Kit"
DENSO CREATE INC. has released "Next Design V5.1," a new version of its system and software design tool, along with the "Next Design AI Tool Kit" to leverage Next Design's design information from AI agents, starting September 30, 2026.
Next Design + AI Tool Kit Screen Image
Key Highlights of Next Design V5.1
Smooth design initiation, even with large-scale design data
Next Design V5.1 improves loading performance in large-scale projects.
Even as design information and models grow, waiting times from opening a file to starting design work are minimized, enabling smoother daily design operations.
Key Highlights of the Next Design AI Tool Kit
Leveraging Next Design's design information from AI agents
The concurrently released Next Design AI Tool Kit provides "Next Design MCP"[1], which allows AI agents to utilize design information within Next Design, and "Dedicated Skills," which supply AI agents with the knowledge and procedures required for tasks using Next Design.
With MCP, users can combine Next Design with the AI agents they use daily. This allows AI not only to serve as a reference for answers obtained through dialogue, but also to handle actual design information within Next Design and link the results directly to design deliverables.
For example, you can leverage AI in daily design tasks, such as creating initial model drafts from requirements and design information registered in Next Design, checking relationships between models, and identifying omissions or inconsistencies in design information.
Furthermore, by combining Dedicated Skills, you can use AI to review metamodels and views through dialogue to construct profiles and models, migrate legacy design assets managed in Word or Excel to Next Design, and use the Next Design API for extensions, code generation, and modifications.
For details on Next Design V5.1 and the AI Tool Kit, please refer to here.
Benefits of Implementing Next Design
In Next Design, design information such as requirements, system design, software design, and tests is structured and managed as models based on metamodels. In addition, relationships and traceability between models can be managed centrally.
With the Next Design AI Tool Kit, this structured design information in Next Design can now also be utilized by AI agents.
Humans and AI share the same design information as a common foundation, allowing them to advance design tasks such as model creation, reviews, verification, and modifications together.
AI supports tasks such as organizing and verifying large amounts of design information, creating initial model drafts, and performing checks based on review viewpoints. Designers can review the results created and proposed by AI within Next Design while making judgments based on their design intent and requirements.
Next Design goes beyond simply centralizing design information; it serves as a development foundation where humans and AI agents jointly utilize that design information, supporting software development powered by AI.
[1] MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a framework for connecting AI agents with external tools and data. ↩