Exclusive interview with Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture and Chaintope: The future of creating new industries in one of Japan's leading IT research locations

Iizuka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, is taking a proactive stance towards blockchain utilization, and what are the future prospects for Chaintope, which is working with the city?

——Please tell us about the benefits and significance of utilizing Web 3.0 in Iizuka City. Also, please tell us about any initiatives you are currently working on.

Tomoka Okuma (hereinafter, Okuma): Iizuka City is home to a cluster of research institutes, IT companies, and engineers, centered around two science and engineering faculties: Kyushu Institute of Technology's School of Information Engineering and Kinki University's School of Industrial Science and Technology.

Utilizing these excellent human resources and intellectual assets, Iizuka City has been working to create new industries for the past 20 years with the aim of becoming an information industry city, and in recent years, Iizuka City has been home to several leading researchers and engineers involved in blockchain, and we feel that it is advantageous to promote the use of Web 3.0 through industry-academia-government collaboration.

We are also currently focusing on human resource development. In collaboration with Fukuoka Prefecture and Chaintope, we are holding a training session called "B3" that specializes in blockchain technology, creating opportunities to learn about blockchain technology.

Hideki Shoda (hereinafter, Shoda): Study sessions have been held since 2015, centered around Professor Shigeichiro Yamazaki of Kinki University's School of Industrial Science and Technology, and this has led to the creation of several startups. Based on these examples, Iizuka City is, so to speak, a key location for blockchain research and a base for training engineers.

Recently, there has been a boom in semiconductors in Kyushu, especially in Kumamoto Prefecture. AI is also on the rise, and more and more students are interested in it, along with blockchain, and research is actually being conducted. In particular, there are many students who aim to contribute to society using blockchain.

Both the public and private sectors are positive about the electronic issuance of official certificates using blockchain. Together, we will create an ecosystem for creating new industries centered on blockchain.

——Four private companies, including Chaintope, and Iizuka City conducted a demonstration experiment on the practical application of blockchain-based electronic issuance of public certificates. What have been the gains and challenges that have been faced through this initiative?

Okuma: This demonstration experiment was conducted twice, in 2020 and 2022. The first time was to verify the electronic issuance of resident registration certificates using dummy data, and the second time was to verify the electronic issuance of income certificates using real data.

Through this demonstration experiment, a trust service using blockchain was established, and we believe that we have secured the same reliability as paper certificates, so we feel that it is a great success. On the other hand, there are major issues, such as whether the recipient of the received certificate can handle electronic issuance.

As the system is widely adopted in society, legal regulations will also need to be revised. Nevertheless, Iizuka City wants to introduce a system of electronic issuance in the future, and we intend to work toward making this a reality.

Shoda: By utilizing blockchain, we verified the issuance of certificates both when using the My Number and when it is not required. It was good that we were able to demonstrate that this is technically possible through our efforts.

However, challenges have also emerged. One of them is the difficulty of the interface. In order to get a wide range of people to use it, an easy-to-use interface is required, but pursuing strictness inevitably makes it difficult.

As Mr. Okuma mentioned, there are also issues with legal regulations. However, we have been able to demonstrate that it is technically feasible, so we will be making preparations to carry out similar initiatives in Iizuka City and other areas.

——Please tell us why Iizuka City is focusing on blockchain. Also, please tell us how you plan to promote and realize blockchain and Web 3.0-related initiatives in the future.

Okuma: In 2019, Iizuka City launched the Blockchain Street Initiative, which aims to help engineers maintain their physical and mental health and unleash their creativity.

Blockchain has been called the biggest technological innovation since the Internet, and has the potential to become the next generation of social infrastructure. We believe that blockchain can be linked with a variety of technologies and can also be expected to promote industry.

As part of our efforts, we have announced the Iizuka City Industry-Academia-Government Co-Creation Vision as a five-year plan, which aims to create new industries using blockchain in 2022. This plan includes holding classes for elementary, junior high, and high school students with the aim of expanding the reach of blockchain and nurturing engineers, as well as supporting business development.

Going forward, we will continue to work toward forming an ecosystem for creating new industries with blockchain at its core.

——Please tell us about Chaintope's future developments, goals, and enthusiasm.

Shoda:We are developing a public blockchain called Tapyrus, and in the future we would like to express contributions to local communities and the environment with tokens. We would like to create a token economy where incentives are generated if you contribute to the environment or if you are useful to people.

The circular economy is called the "circular economy," but we would like to add tokens to that and create a "circular token economy." At the moment, we are thinking about creating a model where tokens are issued to people who contribute to marine culture and the marine environment.

Iizuka City Blockchain Promotion Declaration

Iizuka City launched the "Iizuka City Blockchain Promotion Declaration" in 2021. It will bring together industry, academia, and government to promote urban development that utilizes the city's unique characteristics as a place where intellectual property with excellent information technology gathers, as well as blockchain.

In order to put blockchain-based electronic issuance of public certificates into practical use, Iizuka City and four other companies including Chaintope conducted a demonstration experiment. Through two demonstration experiments, they confirmed that the technology is feasible and identified new issues.



Profile

◉Hideki Shoda
CEO of Chaintope Inc. Graduated from Kyushu Institute of Technology, Department of Information Engineering. Immediately after graduating, he founded How International in July 1999. While working in software development, he worked on regional revitalization projects under the slogan "e-ZUKA, the Silicon Valley of Asia." He began research and development of blockchain around 2015 and focused on social implementation from an early stage. In December 2016, he founded Chaintope to specialize in blockchain.

◉Tomoka Ookuma
Chief of the Industrial and Academic Promotion Section of the Economic Policy Promotion Office, Economic Affairs Department, Iizuka City. Joined the city government as an office worker in 1994. After working in the Citizens' Affairs Division, Lifelong Learning Division, Information Management Division, Health Promotion Division (now Medical Insurance Division), and Personnel Division, he has held his current position since 2021.



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