Community Development: Iwate Prefectural University Students Win Grand Prix at UNIVERSITY SDGs ACTION! AWARDS 2020

"People, Things, and Community Development to Create Super Smart Society"

(Non-Profit Organization) IRC Project by Hayato TAJIRI and Takashi YAMADA Sophomores of Department of Software and Information StudiesIwate Prefectural University, Iwate, JAPAN

Today's Iwate: Place We Live Now

We are active in Takizawa City, Iwate Prefecture, with the aim of "support for the next generation", "manufacturing" and "urban development" that contribute to a super-smart society. A super-smart society is a society in which people can live comfortably by making full use of IT technology.

Geographically, Iwate Prefecture is the second largest prefecture in Japan. However, its population is in the third from the lowest and has been decreasing every year. Main reasons for this are the shortage of local employment and lack of workplaces in which we can maximize our abilities. In FY2017 data, the average annual income in Iwate Prefecture is the fifth-worst in Japan.

While the overconcentration of person and work is becoming a remarkable issue in Tokyo and the metropolitan zone, the vast areas of land in Iwate Prefecture provides the ideal place for agriculture. This spacious landscape cannot be found in Tokyo. Still, we are concerned that the number of people who support agriculture/farming is decreasing and agricultural sector itself is on the verge of survival in Iwate.

Classroom Robotics: "Iwate Future Academy" and Nurturing Next Generation

Classroom Robotics for school children will contribute to enhance Goals No.4, 8, 9 and 11 of SDGs. We visualize the future of Takizawa City in 2030 (See the illustration below):

First of all, with regard to nurturing human resources, we would like to allow children with the skills to choose to work for companies in Iwate Prefecture and Takizawa City and start their own businesses in the future. Therefore, we established the NPO IRC Project and started the robot classroom "Iwate Future Academy" with the aim of acquiring specialized skills from childhood. Nine children are currently attending.

In addition, in order to learn about the manufacturing site, we conduct factory tours with the cooperation of local companies. Creating a community that is easy to raise children and educate will also lead to the creation of a city where people can continue to live. The NPO IRC Project is striving to make use of the entire area for education.

Autonomous Mobile Robots: Burden Reduction on Community Problems

If we can actualize the good cycle of manufacturing and community development in the future, then we will see more people become entrepreneurs in Takizawa city and create a support system for future entrepreneurship.

If we can achieve this cycle, we believe that this cycle will lead to sustainable economic growth. In addition, when employment is created, it is expected to promote innovation at the heart of it. If this cycle of manufacturing and urban development contributes to resolution of the issues in Iwate Prefecture, we will move closer to the realization of a super-smart society.

As the first step, we paid attention to apple farmers. Apple farmers work in various fields, including harvest, fruit-picking, pesticide spraying, luggage carrying, and disease detecting. In addition to declining farmers and their aging, the farmer's works will be hard in particular in broad areas of land like Iwate Prefecture. In order to reduce the burden on agriculture, we are challenging research and development with the desire to solve this problem with autonomous mobile robots. In the future, we hope to realize a cycle of manufacturing and urban development by starting business ventures based on these researches and developing agricultural robots.

Making Iwate as the Place Where We Want to Work and Live

In the Department of Software and Information Studies of Iwate Prefectural University, many of our graduates find jobs not in Iwate Prefecture, but in the Tokyo metropolitan area. However, we always want to work in Iwate Prefecture, which is rich in nature and comfortable to live in. Through our activities, we will continue to create the places we want to work, by ourselves.