What is the "broadly defined civic tech" needed in rural areas?

Civic tech refers to local residents themselves using technology to solve community challenges. This series will explore the potential of technology-driven community development through case studies and interviews with experts.

This time, we discuss "broad civic tech," which could be called the "next generation."

<Table of Contents>
▼Civic Tech Cases Solving Local Issues Increasing Domestically and Abroad
▼Broad Civic Tech ① "Incorporating Digital from the Strategy Development Stage"
▼Broad Civic Tech ② "Leveraging Established, Proven Technologies"

　
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Civic tech solutions addressing regional challenges are increasing globally

Japan's regional challenges—population decline, aging, transportation infrastructure in depopulated areas—are worsening annually. Civic tech is increasingly cited as a solution. Primarily, it refers to solving regional issues through IT utilization.

The key point is that "citizens" with IT knowledge themselves become the driving force. Engineers and technicians living in the community as ordinary citizens are giving back their skills to the local area.

I have experience working in local government through the Cabinet Office's "Regional Revitalization Human Resources Support Program." There, I keenly felt that it is becoming increasingly difficult for government alone to tackle the mounting challenges. This is precisely why it is crucial for citizens themselves to take on the challenge of solving these problems using IT.

The pioneer of civic tech is the U.S. NPO "Code for America," founded in 2009. This organization dispatches engineers and other technical professionals to local governments to solve administrative challenges. They analyze regional issues and create unique web services and apps.

Inspired by this model, the non-profit "Code for Japan" was established in Japan in 2013. Furthermore, organizations like "Code for Kanazawa" and "Code for Sapporo" have formed in various regions, where citizen engineers are creating tools and apps to solve local problems.

For example, in Kanazawa, the app "5374.jp" was developed. It allows users to look up "garbage information"—such as collection days and sorting methods—specific to their address. This app is now starting to be used in areas outside Kanazawa as well.

...The civic tech discussed so far involves skilled engineers developing new systems to solve problems. This has been the fundamental pattern for what has traditionally been called civic tech.

However, I believe that in regional areas going forward, we should consider a more "broadly defined" concept of civic tech.

Broad-based Civic Tech ① "Incorporating digital from the strategy-building stage"
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When we talk about civic tech, there's a strong tendency to focus on technology-driven solutions. But technology is merely a means to an end. Simply investing money to introduce new technology won't solve everything. What's crucial is formulating a strategy: "Where and how should technology be applied?"

First, we need to identify what resources exist in the region, its unique characteristics, and the talent available there. Then, we must clarify what challenges currently exist. Only after making these two points clear should we develop strategies to solve them.

And actually, digital and IT capabilities can be leveraged even in this strategy development phase. In other words, utilizing digital technology starting from the strategy creation before the solution itself. This is the first aspect of "broadly defined civic tech."

One example is the use of the "customer journey," a common practice in digital marketing. The customer journey is a method where you create a persona representing your customer or target audience and analyze their actions and thoughts chronologically.

By visualizing where marketing opportunities and challenges lie within the customer journey using analysis results from digital tools, we develop a " " strategy. This approach can likely be applied to local communities as well.

Broad Civic Tech Concept ②: "Leveraging Established, Proven Technologies"

Let me introduce another concept of "broadly defined" civic tech.

Traditional civic tech often involved citizen engineers building new systems from scratch. While admirable, such engineers aren't necessarily available in every region of Japan.

However, many regional challenges can actually be solved by using existing, widely adopted technologies – so-called "well-established technologies" – rather than building systems from scratch.

Existing technologies include various SNS tools like "LINE" or web services like "Airbnb." It doesn't have to be anything grand; even something as simple as "using LINE for work communication between elderly employees" is perfectly valid civic tech.

There are many regions that aren't fully utilizing these convenient tools, or where simply adopting them could lead to progress. Crucially, since there's no need to build a dedicated system from scratch, the barrier to entry is lower.

Additionally, as a byproduct, mastering existing technology makes residents' daily lives more convenient. For instance, if implementing a community initiative using SNS tools encourages residents to start using SNS, their everyday communication becomes easier. For seniors, it might mean gaining another way to connect with grandchildren living far away.

Rather than approaching things with an overly grand strategy, initiatives rooted in daily life like this are more likely to motivate residents and make participation easier, wouldn't you agree?

In summary, "① Establishing the fundamental strategy" and "② Utilizing existing technology rather than starting from scratch." This constitutes "broadly defined civic tech," which we believe will be crucial for solving future regional challenges.

Several regions are already putting this broad civic tech into practice. One example is the initiative in Gifu Prefecture's Gujo City, supported by Dentsu Digital Inc. Here, they leveraged existing digital tools like Facebook and Salesforce to strengthen relationships with visitors from afar.

Another example is Kamiichi Town in Toyama Prefecture, where I served as a town development advisor. Kamiichi Town utilized customer journey mapping for its relocation and settlement initiatives. Furthermore, local seniors are operating lodging facilities by leveraging services like LINE and Airbnb.

How exactly should we implement this seemingly simple "broadly defined civic tech" in specific locations? And what kind of results can we expect?

Starting next time, I'll introduce actual case studies from Gujo City and Kamiichi Town.