Mobility Subcommittee
Leader: Kenji Suzuki (University of Tsukuba)
The Mobility Subcommittee is dedicated to realizing Tsukuba Smart Mobility, which aims to provide “any means of transportation, anytime, anywhere” for everyone. By integrating mobility systems within the city, we aim to create a society where people can travel freely without relying on private cars. Additionally, by connecting various urban data, we strive to implement new services and encourage behavioral changes among citizens, such as shifting from private car use to public transportation.
For example, in the area around Tsukuba Station, the wide distances between commercial facilities make walking inconvenient, leading to reduced vibrancy in the region. To address this issue, we are conducting pilot tests of a sharing service utilizing personal mobility solutions.
The subcommittee is also engaged in other pilot projects, such as the “Autonomous Driving Shuttle Bus,” “Hands-Free Ticketing Service,” “AI On-Demand Transportation Service,” and “Delivery Support with Autonomous Following Robots.” These projects are being developed and evaluated in collaboration with member companies to move toward full-scale implementation.
Infrastructure and Urban Design Subcommittee
Leader: Sayaka Fujii (University of Tsukuba)
The Infrastructure and Urban Design Subcommittee focuses on preventive and planned maintenance of infrastructure, as well as the creation of innovation hubs that attract talented individuals and growth-oriented companies, aiming to build a safe, secure, and vibrant city.
To date, the subcommittee has conducted cross-disciplinary studies and pilot projects to realize advanced services that promote social inclusion. These include supporting social participation for people with disabilities through avatar robots, conducting pilot tests for “Comprehensive Services for Collaboration in Medical, Nursing, and Pharmaceutical Care,” and initiatives like:
Child Healthcare: Supporting pediatric development and medical care
Establishing a foundation for the implementation of autonomous personal mobility
Creating inclusive mobility systems for people with disabilities, the elderly, and others
Developing a digital urban infrastructure for disaster response
Building on these efforts, the subcommittee will collaborate with member companies to advance initiatives toward societal implementation.
Healthcare, Welfare, and Nursing Care Subcommittee
Leader: Hiroyuki Nishiyama (University of Tsukuba)
The Healthcare, Welfare, and Nursing Care Subcommittee aims to create a city where individuals can “live vibrantly throughout their lifetime in the era of 100-year life expectancy.” By utilizing health, medical, and nursing care data alongside advanced medical technologies, the subcommittee is working on developing new systems to ensure a future where everyone can lead rich and healthy lives.
In FY2024, the subcommittee is supporting Tsukuba City in exploring approaches to data integration in the healthcare sector. This includes identifying regional challenges, envisioning future solutions, and prioritizing specific use cases for action. By leveraging a data integration platform, the subcommittee is advancing concrete measures to address local issues.
Key areas of focus include the following four priority themes:
- Healthcare Database for Patients/Evacuees: Developing a comprehensive database for effective care delivery.
- Enhancing Elderly QOL through Online Medical Services: Improving quality of life for the elderly and optimizing home visit efficiencies.
- Extending Healthy Life Expectancy: Utilizing medical and lifestyle information to promote longer, healthier lives.
- Seamless Home Medical and Nursing Care via Digital Transformation: Establishing a continuous care system through information sharing during hospital admissions and discharges.
These initiatives are being developed in collaboration with member companies to ensure practical and impactful outcomes.
Administrative Services Subcommittee
Leader: Yasuhiro Takahashi (Tsukuba City)
The Administrative Services Subcommittee aims to provide necessary administrative information tailored to residents’ attributes and create an environment that facilitates resident participation in governance. The subcommittee is working toward administrative services that are accessible and easy to use for everyone, including elderly and foreign residents, while addressing the increasingly diverse needs of the population.
Key directions for initiatives include:
- Addressing the diverse and segmented challenges and needs of residents.
- Creating a more livable environment for the growing proportion of foreign residents.
- Eliminating information disparities for vulnerable groups such as the elderly and foreign residents.
- Promoting citizen participation in political and administrative activities through IoT technologies.
To support these goals, the subcommittee is collaborating with member companies to explore various measures, such as:
- Full online transition of administrative procedures.
- Development and unification of a multilingual portal site.
- Implementation of PUSH notifications tailored to residents’ attributes.
- Enabling online voting for greater civic engagement.
These efforts aim to enhance inclusivity and improve the accessibility of administrative services for all residents.
Data Integration Platform Subcommittee
Leader: Yoshiyuki Nagano (NEC)
The Data Integration Platform Subcommittee works to address regional challenges from the perspective of data utilization, collaborating closely with other subcommittees to drive initiatives forward. By partnering with policymakers and businesses tackling local issues, the subcommittee explores and tests models for implementing new data-driven services.
In addition, it organizes study sessions, workshops, and other activities to encourage more companies to explore and promote services leveraging data. Through these efforts, the subcommittee aims to establish a framework that uses both people and data to resolve the challenges faced by local communities.
Green Subcommittee
Leader: Shungo Watanabe (Tsukuba City)
The Green Subcommittee aims to create “a sustainable and carbon-neutral city that is kind to both people and the planet.” It focuses on planning and promoting initiatives related to climate change countermeasures, Green Transformation (GX), and Circular Economy (CE). The subcommittee is also actively advancing projects as a designated decarbonization pioneer area and working to expand these efforts across the entire city.
Key initiatives include building a self-owned microgrid utilizing existing shared infrastructure, effectively using local resources such as waste cooking oil and fish oil, and introducing green hydrogen co-firing cogeneration systems (CGS). These efforts are being advanced with the involvement of more companies and communities to maximize impact.
