ICMG Co., Ltd. (Located in Tokyo, hereinafter referred to as ICMG) signed an MOU (Memorandum of understanding) on June 30, 2021 with Minamichita Town in Aichi Prefecture (hereinafter referred to as Minamichita Town) and Qlue (Located in Indonesia), a start-up company operating a smart city platform in Indonesia, regarding proof-of-concept (hereinafter referred to as “POC”) to revitalize the community through the “Digitization of Town Project”.

【Background】
Japan is said to be a country with advanced social issues like rapidly aging and declining population, frequent natural disasters, and aging infrastructure. In order to solve these various social issues, the Japanese government is promoting smart city concepts, aiming to create new value, while improving the efficiency and sophistication of functions and services in cities and regions by utilizing advanced technologies.

【Objective】
In order to promote the development of a smart city in Minamichita Town — facing serious issues such as a declining population and a high rate of vacant houses — this MOU will help to establish a digital platform where residents of Minamichita Town can submit ideas and proposals for the development of the town through a smartphone application developed by Qlue. In addition, a POC will be conducted to establish an urban infrastructure management model by using AI to analyze images from the drive recorders installed in vehicles owned by Minamichita Town to efficiently and cost-effectively detect problems and failures in public infrastructure such as roads. ICMG will contribute to the success of the POC by designing and executing the POC based on its extensive experience in co-creation with companies and organizations in Japan and overseas, and by co-creating with Minamichita Town and Qlue. After the POC is completed, we will compile the results and share them with other local governments in Japan to help solve similar issues in other regions.

【Background of the MOU】
Aichi Prefecture and ICMG implemented and managed the “Aichi Smart Sustainable Co-Creation Challenge” with the aim of realizing a smart sustainable city in Aichi Prefecture in 2020. In the program, companies and organizations took on the challenge of co-creating solutions with startups under four themes: (1) DX in manufacturing, (2) Mobility as a Service, (3) Creation of a new lifestyle model after COVID-19, and (4) Realization of a smart sustainable airport. This MOU was concluded as a result of one of the four themes, “Creating a New Lifestyle Model after COVID-19”. The “Aichi Smart Sustainable Co-Creation Challenge” will be continued this year.

（Supporting message from Mr. Akihiro Mori, Startup Promotion Division, Aichi Prefectural Government）
I am very pleased that the three parties have signed an MOU through the Aichi Prefecture program. I believe this is the result of the combination of Minamichita Town’s enthusiasm for solving regional issues through public-private co-creation, Qlue’s ability to make proposals based on its successful track records overseas, and ICMG’s co-creation coordination support. We expect that this initiative will become a model case in the future.

【Outline of the municipality and each company】

■　Minami Chita Town
<https://translate.google.co.jp/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&tl=en&u=https://www.town.minamichita.lg.jp>
Minami Chita Town is located at the southernmost tip of the Chita Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture, and consists of islands such as Shino Island on the tip and Himaka Island floating offshore. It is a fish town and fishing base that supplies fresh seafood to urban areas, and a tourist spot where you can enjoy the beach and natural hot springs.

■　Qlue <https://www.qlue.co.id/>
Since its establishment in 2016, Qlue has been providing a smart city platform service that uses IoT and AI technology to detect urban issues by aggregating citizen voices and analyzing video. By collaborating with government agencies, it is contributing to solving social issues such as underdeveloped infrastructure and flood prevention. The President of Indonesia has declared this as a company that will accelerate smart cities.

■　ICMG <https://www.icmg.co.jp/en/>
ICMG aims to solve social issues and create a sustainable future by forming a global innovation ecosystem based in Japan, Singapore, India, Silicon Valley, etc., and by leading co-creative innovation with diverse stakeholders.