Toshiba Data Joins Smart City Aizu

Tokyo Toshiba Data Corporation (hereinafter Toshiba Data ) today announced the opening of a new branch office from this month in Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture in Japan, that will spearhead the company's participation in Smart City AiCT, the implementation of a smart city project and advanced technology demonstrations in the city and the surrounding region.

Established by Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) as a wholly owned subsidiary on February 3 this year, Toshiba Data is developing and promoting a business model based on collecting consumer purchase data from real-world stores, and transforming them into a valuable form that returns benefits to consumers, retailers, and local communities. In deploying this business model in Aizuwakamatsu City, Toshiba Data will utilize the capabilities of Smart Receipt*1, an application developed by Toshiba Tec Corporation (hereinafter Toshiba Tec ), and it will apply the experience and achievements of participation in Smart City AiCT to the realization of smart cities across Japan.

Japan must overcome diverse challenges that many countries and cities around the world will face in the near future, including a rapidly aging population and increasingly frequent natural disasters that impact on urban centers. Smart City is an initiative that aims to overcome these and other issues by using advanced technologies to improve the efficiency and sophistication of urban and regional functions and services. By seeking to realize the objectives of Society 5.0, the Japanese government's vision of the next industrial revolution, it will fuse cyber and physical technologies and use advanced solutions to solve social issues and to create a more comfortable and convenient urban society.

The Japanese government is a strong supporter of the initiative. The cabinet has approved a revision to the National Strategic Special Zone Law in order to support a Super City Initiative that aims to use cutting-edge technologies to create super cities. The proposed revision will be brought to the 201st ordinary Diet session (January 20-June 17) for discussion.

The potential of smart city projects to promote urban development through use of public-private data and continuous economic development positions them as a powerful tool for regional revitalization. Aizuwakamatsu City, working with the University of Aizu, is exploring this potential by promoting a smart city model that uses ICT to solve problems of local administration. This commitment has won support from companies and startups from outside of Fukushima Prefecture, which have established operations there and made it a place to practice open innovation with the city and university, local companies and citizens. Aizuwakamatsu City is increasingly attracting attention as a modern city that is using digital date to promote an advanced, citizen-first urban environment.

Toshiba Group endorses this initiative and the Toshiba Data's contribution to its achievement.

Toshiba Data will contribute to more comfortable and affordable lifestyles with Toshiba Tecs Smart Receipt. This retail system uses receipt information (purchase history) from real stores to provide receipt information x coupon and receipt information x regional points. Participating stores can use results that include receipt information x latent needs and receipt information x health to promote advanced marketing and advertising to attract customers, increase sales, support product development and improve supply chain efficiency. Use of these innovations alongside Aizuwakamatsu City's initiative are expected to generate excellent synergies.

Hiroaki Kitagawa, COO of Toshiba Data said, We will use our Toshiba Data business model to contribute to the realization of Aizuwakamatsu City's smart city concept, and to turn purchase data into benefits that are returned to consumers, retailers and the community. We believe we can contribute to regional revitalization and solving social issues by cultivating a safe and secure data-recycling ecosystem with various partners, and we aim to build a platform through regional collaboration.

*DFFT : Data Free Flow with Trust

Based on the experience and achievements gained in this initiative, Toshiba Data aims to contribute to the realization of smart cities throughout Japan.

*1 Smart Receipt; A trade mark owned by Toshiba Tec

A system that enables consumers to digitize receipt print data at a cash register when a shopper makes a transaction. Shoppers can receive digitized receipt data simply by reading the barcode displayed on the smartphone app at the cash register

https://www.smartreceipt.jp/

LINK:	http://www.toshiba.co.jp/about/press/2020_03/pr0401.htm...
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