\ Innovation trend commentary /

In this series, we will introduce the themes and ventures that were taken up in each morning pitch, and send out information that contributes to Japanese innovation.

This time, we will be holding a special event on November 7th.Smart city special feature"is.

Addressing urban challenges with services tailored to each and every citizen

A smart city is a method of improving the quality of life of city-related stakeholders, such as residents and company employees, through services that utilize information and communication technology (ICT), IoT, and public and private data to address various issues facing cities and regions. Specifically, it provides services that are tailored to each and every citizen, such as extending healthy life expectancy, supporting community monitoring, and obtaining and transmitting disaster information in real time. From the perspectives of society, economy, and the environment, it pursues the realization of safe, secure, sustainable, creative, and environmentally friendly spaces.

To achieve the goals of a smart city, first of all, a strategy such as the formulation of a vision and plan, and city management based on that are necessary. The other axis is assets, where various data owned by the government, local governments, regions, private companies, and individuals are aggregated in a data integration platform called City OS. By linking the information aggregated in City OS with smart city-related services such as transportation, logistics, and energy, efficient and comfortable services will be provided to residents, visitors, and businesses. In addition, by achieving interoperability with city management systems in other regions, it will be possible to spread successful cases in one region to other regions without the need for additional system development.

The number of regions where the OS is installed has increased significantly

The structure of smart city businesses itself makes it difficult to generate profits. For example, residents are often not willing to pay for even socially meaningful services, and upfront investments such as contributions from private companies are required in the early stages of business. To achieve sustainable growth, it is essential to accumulate data through continued services and monetize in areas where profits are easily obtained. Of particular importance in this regard is City OS, which shares, aggregates, and visualizes information. The trend toward adoption is accelerating, with 73 regions adopting it as of March 2024. This is an increase of 59 regions in about three years, and measures to monetize smart city services linked to City OS will be necessary in the future.

As the movement towards the spread of smart city services gains momentum, one of the most noteworthy recent initiatives is the "Uranus Ecosystem." Uranus is one of the initiatives named by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2023 as a cross-industry system collaboration effort. It has accepted 200 people from private companies and is building an unprecedented public-private collaboration scheme with a sense of speed to implementation.

One of the projects currently being worked on is the "4D Space-Time Collaboration Platform." This refers to a data collaboration platform that adds the dimension of time to the three-dimensional information of ground, air, and underground. Its features are (1) high-precision, high-resolution spatial information that can slice space to the nearest centimeter, and (2) real-time information updates and data collaboration. By combining these, it is expected to be used in fields that require precision and speed, such as mobility, infrastructure and urban management, industry and logistics, and crime and disaster prevention.

Testing drone-based drug delivery combined with online medical examinations and medication advice

With the support of the national government, this collaboration platform has produced some precedent cases through demonstration experiments. One of these is the implementation of drone services in Hamamatsu City. In addition to verifying pharmaceutical delivery combined with online medical examinations and medication guidance, the video data obtained from this logistics business was analyzed to replace some of the river patrols and inspections carried out by river administrators. Experiments on autonomous driving were conducted around Omika Station in Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture. Specifically, an environment was provided where multiple operators could access and link with the same infrastructure equipment, and signal coordination and sharing of blind spot information were implemented. We are also working on the operation of autonomous vehicles. Infrastructure DX services were implemented in Saitama City. Automatic inquiries were made to facilities owned by infrastructure companies such as telecommunications, electricity, gas, and water.

The construction of a 4D data sharing platform will lead to improved quality of spatial data, and as a result, there is a possibility that the value of smart city services that use data will increase significantly. This is expected to dramatically change the situation where the term "smart city" has taken precedence over other services, but there has been no real results.

Startups involved in smart cities are active in a wide range of fields, and the number of companies is continuing to grow. This time, we will introduce five companies involved in health and medical care, nursing care and welfare, disaster prevention and crime prevention, decarbonization and energy conservation, and urban OS.

Combining a waste treatment plant and a power plant to generate hydrogen from waste (BIOTECHWORKS-H2 Co., Ltd.)

BIOTECHWORKS-H2 is working on the "Zero Waste Project." By combining a waste treatment plant and a power plant and utilizing hydrogen generated from waste, they have achieved zero waste, reduced CO2 emissions, and in-house energy circulation. They can reduce the carbon footprint, which indicates the total amount of CO2 emitted from the procurement of raw materials to production and disposal. By optimizing waste, they can stably supply large amounts of hydrogen. They are overturning the common sense that hydrogen cannot be monetized and developing a unique sustainable business model.

Overcoming issues such as privacy protection using technology that mimics the structure of the brain (TwinSense Inc.)

TwinSense is developing a platform for smart cities. By making full use of neuromorphic technology that mimics the structure of the human brain, TwinSense overcomes various challenges such as low power consumption and privacy protection that were difficult with existing technology. It is now possible to stably obtain data that is unstable depending on various conditions such as day and night, the position of the sun, and weather. By understanding information such as people flow that could not be grasped until now, it is possible to bring about innovation in various fields such as public infrastructure, disaster prevention, and healthcare.

In Brazil, some states have reduced crime by 70% using crime prediction solutions.Singular Perturbations, Inc.)

Singular Perturbations offers a crime prediction solution called "CRIME NABI." This solution was made possible by developing multiple proprietary algorithms that incorporate not only past crime data, but also demographic statistics, satellite images, building information, and more. In addition to crime prediction, the company also provides a service for formulating security plans for vehicles and surveillance cameras, which can be used to measure the crime prevention effect of security. Some states in Brazil have succeeded in reducing crime by 70%.

Divide the world into 3m squares and enable searching and sharing of accurate location information (what3words ltd)

What3words Ltd., based in the UK, develops a service that allows users to search and share precise location information by dividing the world into 3m squares and assigning a unique combination of three words. It enables users to navigate to more precise destinations, such as the entrance to a building or a specific area in a park. It is compatible with GPS and is also suitable for the logistics, vehicle and emergency service industries, and will be established as a global address standard in the future. It aims to be integrated into everyday consumer applications and widely adopted by governments and emergency services.

Promoting the use of My Number cards and digital IDs to help resolve issues faced by local governments (xID Inc.)

xID (cross ID) provides comprehensive support to resolve issues faced by local governments and businesses by promoting the use of My Number cards and digital IDs. Representative Kusaka worked for the government in Estonia, which is said to be a pioneer in My Number and where almost all procedures can be completed on smartphones. The product they are developing, "xID," is a digital ID app that anyone can use for free, reducing the hassle of identity verification, logging in, and procedures. It has been introduced in many local governments. In the future, they aim to improve the digitalization of administrative and financial notifications.

According to the 2024 Smart City Rankings of World Cities by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, Tokyo ranks low at 86th. It is behind Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (73rd) and Bangkok in Thailand (84th), and despite its concentration of population, companies, and academic institutions, it has not been able to fully utilize its ability to convert this into added value. In order to bring out the potential of cities such as Tokyo and revitalize the Japanese economy, it can be said that the success of smart city startups is essential.

▼Theme Leader Profile

Deloitte Tohmatsu Venture Support Co., Ltd.
Industry & FunctionDivision

Yutaka Ishibashi

Biography

・In graduate school, he researched the impact of self-driving taxis on urban traffic in Tokyo and sold the simulation software he developed to a listed company.

・Joined DTVS as a new graduate and engaged in supporting startup collaborations with private companies, supporting new business creation for private companies, and supporting the formulation of basic plans for base facilities for a certain local government.

-For those who want to catch up on innovation trends on a regular basis-

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In Morning Pitch, we will explain the outline of each theme as described above.

We deliver materials and videos only to paying members.

　Explanatory material ...Morning Pitch paid member

Explainer video ...Morning Pitch Innovation Community (MPIC) member

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