Towards a Preferred Industry for the Construction Sector: Infrastructure Farmers to Host Future Infrastructure Conference 2026! ~Introducing DX Case Studies that Will Transform Your Daily Work for Those on the Front Lines of the Busy Construction Industry~

Nearly 400 industry professionals participated in this conference, combining both in-person and online attendance. Themed around promoting DX in the construction industry, advanced challenge cases, and how challenges encountered in the process were overcome were introduced, creating a vibrant atmosphere, particularly among younger attendees.

Organizer: Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Comprehensive Infrastructure Maintenance Committee, Activity Subcommittee (A portion of this event's research is from the Cabinet Office's Strategic Innovation Promotion Program, Phase 3, under the theme "Construction of a Smart Infrastructure Management System.")

■ Lecture Content

Theme 1: Awarded the Infrastructure DX Prize! DX Practice Cases at Kanatsu Giken Kogyo
Mr. Yoshinobu Kimura presented a case study on "Front-loading the Construction Phase" through the utilization of 3D design data. By creating data before commencement of work, the surveying and calculation tasks, which were a traditional cause of overtime, were reduced to almost zero. On the other hand, he emphasized the importance of "universal knowledge" for mastering tools, and introduced an example of "Education that Values Fundamentals, Even in the DX Era," which involves thorough basic education such as longitudinal profile reading in new employee training.

Theme 2: DX-Achieved 'Sanpo Yoshi' (Triple Satisfaction) for Management, Employees, and Business: DX Practice Cases at Nanto Giken
Mr. Ryoji Shinkawa presented a case study on "Co-creation/PMC (Post Merger Co-creation)," which fuses IT and field technology, initiated by the M&A of a construction company by a startup IT firm. Through the accumulation of trust built on small improvements, they achieved results beyond DX, including improved treatment, a 1.5x increase in sales, a 3x increase in profit, and zero employee turnover.

Theme 3: Automation of Knowledge Inheritance Using Generative AI (LLM)
Mr. Tomoki Takizawa from the University of Tokyo/In.F and Ms. Sonoka Hashimoto from ISS presented a system that combines 13 years of "Customer Feedback," failure examples accumulated within ISS, and publicly available legal standards with an LLM. By utilizing this system, young engineers can instantly refer to past knowledge and prevent similar mistakes from occurring. Furthermore, by verbalizing customary practices, it is expected to bring awareness to errors within those practices themselves.
*This presentation is based on the activities of In.F Farm2 (Seekers of Verbalization).*

Panel Discussion:
With the four speakers above as panelists and Mr. Ryota Kurihara from the University of Tokyo/In.F as facilitator, a panel discussion was held. They discussed the importance of "small success experiences" and "external evaluation" in overcoming barriers to DX promotion, as well as the "engineering fundamentals" that remain indispensable even as technological innovation progresses. Furthermore, institutional challenges such as the client-dependent structure and copyright issues in the database creation of legal standards were also highlighted. Ultimately, the direction of aiming for Industrial Transformation (IX) for the entire industry, not just simple DX, was confirmed, concluding the conference.

■ About In.F (Infrastructure Farmers)
In.F is a young-led organization founded with the goal of making the construction and infrastructure maintenance industries more desirable than they are now. Without being bound by industry, position, or age, it aims to solve the challenges faced by the infrastructure industry and promote a transformation of values, making it a more sought-after industry by freely discussing issues within the infrastructure sector.
URL: https://in-f.jp/

■ 3 Working Groups (Farms) to "Cultivate" Industry Challenges
Farm1: Playbook for Challengers
By conducting hearing surveys on organizations that have adapted to change and achieved results through challenges, we delve into the factors such as "Why were they able to break through?" and "What innovations were made?". By organizing and publishing these insights as reports, we aim to update the stagnant atmosphere within the industry and support future challengers.
HP: https://in-f.jp/PlaybookforChallengers
Farm2: Seekers of Verbalization
We are considering solutions using generative AI (LLM) for issues such as long working hours, low productivity, and the slow progress of technical knowledge review. Specifically, we aim to improve work quality and efficiency by creating systems such as the "Failure Case Database" introduced at the Future Infrastructure Conference, facilitating easier access to legal standards, and enabling knowledge transfer from experienced professionals.
Farm3: Visionaries
What is a desirable industry? Through workshops for students and young professionals, we structurally organize the values they prioritize, such as "freedom," "creativity," and "the fusion of high-tech and humanity," aiming to build guidelines for creating an attractive industry. This activity goes beyond merely resolving dissatisfactions like "long working hours are tough" to visualizing a positive vision of "what kind of industry we want to be."

[Community Invitation]
In.F provides an online platform for discussion and exchange beyond workplaces within the construction industry.
If you are interested, please inquire through our website.

Contact Information Regarding This Matter
In.F (Infrastructure Farmers)
Contact: Natsumi Ishibashi
E-mail: oneteam.in.f@gmail.com
HP (Inquiries): https://in-f.jp/contact

Related Links
Japan Society of Civil Engineers, Future Infrastructure Conference Announcement: https://infra-symposium.jsce.or.jp/in-f/mirai2026/
Archive streaming is available until the end of May 2026.