Kobe City: Notice of Joint Use of Urban OS with Kashiwa City

Press Release (October 9, 2024)
Planning and Coordination Bureau, Coordination Division

The City of Kobe, GIX Corporation (CEO Tomohiro Amino, hereinafter referred to as “GIX”), Kidsline Corporation (CEO Kayoko Keisawa, hereinafter referred to as “Kidsline”), BIPROGY Corporation (President Noboru Saito, hereinafter referred to as “BIPROGY”),

Mitsui Fudosan

Co. (President and Representative Director: Noboru Saito; hereinafter “BIPROGY”), Mitsui Fudosan Co. The entire area has been introduced.
　By jointly using Kashiwa’s proven urban OS, Kobe citizens were able to provide services to Kobe citizens within just one month of the decision to introduce the OS, without incurring initial costs. This initiative has also been selected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) for its “FY2024 Project to Promote Diverse Wide-Area Collaboration.” As an example of the rapid introduction of smart city services, we will examine the possibility of expanding services using the city OS and of horizontal deployment to other municipalities in the future.

1. Roles of each organization

Kobe City focused on the portal site “Smart Life Pass” and the data collaboration platform “Dot to Dot” as urban OSs that have already been used in various services in Kashiwanoha Smart City in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, and developed local services through joint use of existing urban OSs in cooperation with Kashiwa City. The existing urban OS is now being used jointly with Kashiwa City to provide regional services. This solved the problem of expanding regional services that conventional urban OSs have faced, and made it possible to quickly deploy regional services without incurring initial costs. The perspective of regional service expansion and the realization of a model that can be introduced with little initial cost burden are indispensable for the spread of urban OSs, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications expects the construction of a model that enables horizontal deployment of data federation infrastructure throughout Japan as a useful project outcome.

The “Smart Life Pass” and “Dot to Dot” have been introduced throughout Kobe City since August 2024, and the “Childcare Support Stamp Rally” and “Temporary Childcare Monitoring” are being offered as local services in the city.

Reference information

*1 About Smart Life Pass (from the website of Mitsui Fudosan Co.)

https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/corporate/news/2020/1126_01/

2 About Dot to Dot (from the website of Mitsui Fudosan Co.)

https://www.mitsuifudosan.co.jp/corporate/news/2020/1126_02/

5. For inquiries, please contact

Coordination Division, Planning and Coordination Bureau, Kobe City (12F, City Hall Building No. 1) Attn: Nishino, Ito
TEL: 078-322-6462 Email: smartcity@office.city.kobe.lg.jp