Under the key concept of "Digital & Sustainable Transformation," the TOPPAN Group seeks to be a leader in solving social issues worldwide through digital transformation (DX) and sustainable transformation (SX). The Group has named "Communities (creation of safe, secure, enriched communities)" as one of its material issues given particular focus. To address the numerous social issues caused by the decline and the urban concentration of Japan's population, the Group leverages advanced digital technologies to offer safe and convenient services that are optimized for individual communities. For fiscal 2030, the Group has set a goal of 150 local government bodies providing residents with services that are optimized for their communities.

This installment of the Special Content series introduces initiatives for regional revitalization through the use of digital technology under cooperation between the town of Iizuna in Nagano Prefecture and ICT KŌBŌ^™ IIZUNA, one of TOPPAN Digital's sites. Launched under the concept of a place where engineers come together as craftspeople, ICT KŌBŌ currently has five locations across Japan. It undertakes projects involving DX for local industries and for regions in collaboration with local government bodies. We spoke with the mayor of Iizuna and the head of its DX Promotion Office to discuss initiatives to support safe living and the development of digital human resources in regional communities and to solve issues unique to the communities, while building deep engagement at sites in non-urban areas.

Initiatives by the ICT KŌBŌ digital base, born on the former site of a school

Horita

I lived in Iizuna for two and a half years after a job transfer, and until then had never been to Nagano Prefecture. I wondered what sort of life would be waiting for me in Iizuna. What I often felt there more than anything was the warmth of the people. I got to make deeper personal connections with people I met through work, who treated me to meals and otherwise showed genuine kindness. The richness of the natural environment was also an attraction. Gazing at the beautiful scenery while commuting by car was a stress reliever.

Minemura

The town's beautiful and abundant natural environment is an element that we want to keep. We also have a strong desire to raise up the next generation. In reality, however, the number of children in the town is declining. When the villages of Mure and Samizu were merged to form Iizuna in 2005, there was a movement to merge four elementary schools into two. How to make use of the newly unused school sites was a concern. That's when we were introduced through a bank to TOPPAN, beginning a relationship that continues today.

Kasai

The project head at the time suggested that we turn a former school site into a job creation base to revitalize the region. The Iizuna Connect complex was born from this. Iizuna Connect features offices as well as a cafe, store, children's club, and gym for seniors. These nurture interactions between nature and people while also offering a place for work.

Horita

TOPPAN Digital positions ICT KŌBŌ as a development base for promoting DX and SX in the TOPPAN Group. ICT KŌBŌ has five missions: job creation/human resource recruitment, nearshore development, development of new solutions, new research and development, and collaboration with local governments. Among these, I see job creation/human resource recruitment as a particularly important initiative.
ICT KŌBŌ IIZUNA occupies two classrooms in Iizuna Connect EAST. Amid intensifying competition for engineering human resources, there were many engineers wanting to stay in their hometowns and work in non-urban areas. Hoping to create a place capable of taking in such human resources, as a first step we opened a base in Iizuna in 2020.

Kasai

As a regional promotion manager, I worked with people in TOPPAN on the use of the school site. Since being transferred to the DX Promotion Office, I've worked with ICT KŌBŌ. While discussing issues faced by the town and ways to connect digital technologies to solutions and greater efficiency, we're undertaking a variety of initiatives.

Horita

Since we first established ICT KŌBŌ IIZUNA, we’ve made efforts to learn about the town. For example, with the cooperation of farmers I've met, I help out with farm work. By doing so, I'm able to see how difficult work in the field is, and by asking what sort of special refinements the farmers make in their work, I learn a lot from them. Through communication like this, we're able to understand each other's work and consult with people about their concerns. The community information aggregation and dissemination service PosRe^™ was born from such interactions.

Staying close to the concerns of town residents and staff while providing solutions that draw on the power of digital technologies

Horita

The PosRe service can be used to collect, manage, and communicate community information in conjunction with the LINE social media service and local resident-oriented apps. It can also be used to link IoT devices in disaster readiness systems. What led to the creation of PosRe was talking with the PTA chairperson at a school. Every year at times such as before summer break, parents would come together to hear about dangerous locations along the route to school, create hand-drawn maps, and so on. Problems existed, however, such as inaccurate information and the inability to picture actual conditions. Information would be reported to parties including the Board of Education and action would be taken, but there were problems in information management. For example, when the PTA chairperson would change, the status of the matters would go unknown, and the same information would be received the following year. Hearing about that, I thought that if there were a service that could enable efficient centralized management of such information, it would also help support the work of a lot of people. That was the second year of ICT KŌBŌ IIZUNA. With no staff experienced in launching new services from scratch, we were in a trial and error situation but made a start toward a solution.

Horita

In the process of creating PosRe, we heard about numerous issues of the sort that Mr. Kasai mentioned, and received a lot of help from people in the community and inside our company. The experience of making something together with many people while enjoying the steps involved in creation has become an irreplaceable experience for us. I'm proud that PosRe, which came about in this way, has become something that many other municipalities are also able to use.

Kasai

Speaking on behalf of the town, I was very grateful for the way that people at TOPPAN listened to the frank feedback of people in the field and joined us in the brainstorming and the hard work. Through the introduction of PosRe, we've achieved a mechanism by which we can manage information received from town residents as well as summarize and transmit the status of actions and other information, and by which town residents can obtain information on their own. I think that residents will also gain a sense of security from knowing that what they've communicated is being put to use.

Aiming for "creation of safe, secure, enriched communities," and deepening win-win relationships

Minemura

We're currently collaborating not only on PosRe but also on tablet-based digital education programs in elementary schools. The fact that a lot of young people have moved into town in recent years might not be unrelated to these efforts. We've received numerous requests for visits from ministries and other local government bodies, who've told us that a company like TOPPAN coming to Iizuna means there's still plenty of room for growth here. There's a feel that a major distinguishing feature has come to this undistinguished town, which really makes me happy.
A lot of people may have an image of agriculture as simply the harvesting and selling of products. In truth, though, agriculture is a job akin to a small trading company. It involves questions of what to produce and how, how to process products, and where and how to sell them. I want to see and develop agriculture as a major industry that leads even to trade, and hope to make it an industry that will bring in more people from outside. Not only agriculture but also education, welfare services, and everyday shopping could be made more convenient through the use of ICT. I have the feeling that town residents are starting to feel effects from our initiatives with TOPPAN.

Kasai

Through our collaboration with TOPPAN, I feel that we've achieved certain results in terms of using digital technologies to solve issues from the standpoint of residents. At the same time, challenges remain in the development of digital human resources within the town's staff. The capabilities of staff will be essential to the town's DX in the future, so I hope that we'll be able to cooperate further in such areas. At present, we continue to hold regular meetings every two weeks, and new projects are coming into existence. I hope to see a virtuous cycle of solutions for regional revitalization spread to local governments across the country, with Iizuna serving as a model case.

Minemura

We're now considering the construction of housing for young people on a site next to Iizuna Connect EAST. In the future, I think it'd be great if TOPPAN employees, even if not relocating in Iizuna, could come here with their families during the summer and work while enjoying summer vacation. In such ways, I hope our efforts will also lead to initiatives that grow the nonresident population and otherwise expand possibilities for children. I look forward to further deepening the win-win relationship between Iizuna and TOPPAN by integrating TOPPAN's unique technologies and knowledge to address challenges facing the town.

*All information is current as of December 2024 (the time of the interview).

Japan has 792 cities, 23 special wards (the 23 wards of Tokyo), 743 towns, and 183 villages (as of October 2024). Every community faces its own particular challenges, and the solutions to these are varied. However, there are great expectations for the potential of success stories and solutions in one municipality to lead to solutions to issues in other communities and to opportunities for achieving better living.
To achieve the creation of "communities (creation of safe, secure, enriched communities)," one of the TOPPAN Group's material issues given particular focus, the Group works with local government bodies and residents to engage in community revitalization initiatives across the country, including ICT KŌBŌ. The TOPPAN Group aims to realize safe, secure, and enriched communities and will continue staying close to the residents of municipalities to open up a better future together.