Japan's First! "SAND lab based on DAO" Creates a "Region Where Challenges and Experiences Circulate"

General Incorporated Association InnoDrops (Representative Director: Naoko Oyama, Location: Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture) held the DAO-based entrepreneurship education program "SAND lab 2025" from November 2025 to February 2026, with the support of the Mitsubishi Mirai Ikusei Foundation.

This program brought together junior high and high school students, local businesses, and engineering talent to form teams and conduct business development aimed at solving social issues. The "SAND lab 2025" program ran for four months starting in November 2025.

The program visualizes the "cycle of challenge and learning" and is positioned as a new social experiment space where people "create together" beyond their roles and ages.

■ Students Gain Experience in "Making Decisions" as "Social Entrepreneurs"

"SAND lab" is Japan's first "DAO-based entrepreneurship education" program (※ self-research) that fuses a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) platform with Web3 technology.

What is required for the future of our regions are individuals who can create new value through co-creation with others, without being bound by existing roles. Especially in an era of rapid AI advancement, the ability to make one's own decisions and create products for others is indispensable.

SAND lab utilizes DAO to visualize decision-making within projects. Junior high and high school students, engineers, and local businesses connect on a flat level, shaping products together through agile development. This is how we are implementing the next generation's form of co-creation in society.

■ Achievements and Impact

Implementation Period: November 2025 - February 2026

Number of SAND lab Entrepreneurs Produced: 7

Total Number of Participants: 17 (7 junior/senior high school students, 2 local business representatives, 3 engineers, 5 university student support staff)

Number of Decisions Made by SAND lab Entrepreneurs (participating junior/senior high school students): 12 (Company establishment, app development approval, usability verification approval, EXIT decision)

From among the participants of STEAMDAYS!!2025 who wished to participate, three virtual companies were established through matching with local businesses. They tackled the social issue of "mental developmental disabilities and how to leverage one's unique individuality" to develop businesses. The junior/senior high school students, acting as CEOs, took leadership roles and agilely advanced from user verification to app development.

【EXIT Achievement Case】

In fiscal year 2025, one of the three companies achieved social implementation through a "business transfer (EXIT)."

The exchange diary app "Break Isolation," developed to alleviate loneliness, was recognized for its high user value and was officially transferred to "Genius Lab," a vocational support facility in Saga Prefecture. The idea created by junior/senior high school students has begun to walk as a tool to solve real-world problems.

■ Introduction to the Initiatives of the Three Virtual Companies

Virtual Company Three Rice

【Initiative Details & Thoughts on the Product】

We are challenging ourselves to develop and socially implement the exchange diary app "Break Isolation" to resolve isolation. Our business purpose is to aim for a state where users can gain confidence in face-to-face communication through "empathy" via exchange diaries, which fosters a psychologically safe environment. We collaborated with co-creation partners to develop the app, reflecting feedback from the field.

【Challenges Faced & Conflicts】

・Technical challenges (struggled with implementing notification functions)
・How to design the "exchange" mechanism that leads to "resolution of isolation"

・Discrepancy with partner expectations (risk of becoming a "subcontractor")

As the product took shape, a gap emerged between "what users expect" and "what we want to create," leading to conflict over which to prioritize.

【Growth & Learning】

・Reorganized the common points between our purpose and partner requests.
・Realized the importance of building small and verifying quickly.

As president, I gained a sense of responsibility for making decisions and creating a product that users would utilize.

Virtual Company Thinking

【Initiative Details & Thoughts on the Product】

We challenged ourselves to develop and socially implement the application "KIKKAKE (Trigger)," which combines life logging and challenge support, with the purpose of "initiating new challenges and eliminating regrets." Based on daily task management, it's a system where AI proposes "challenge tasks" to step into a new world based on the user's behavioral history. It's not just an efficiency tool; it aims to help users take small steps and move towards self-realization through "support" and "empathy" within the community.

【Challenges Faced & Conflicts】

・Ambiguity and lack of detail in the target persona
・Difficulty in defining the value of the sharing function
・Mismatch between features and needs

We fell into a product-out mindset, and at one point, received a usability rating of 1 (out of 1-6) from users.

【Growth & Learning】

・Improved clarity by narrowing the target to "communities."
・Realized the importance of user experiences that allow people to connect while having fun (gamification).
・Thorough self-engagement through "virtual users."

We reorganized the product's features and pursued a product that users could continue to use.

Virtual Company Cranberry

【Initiative Details & Thoughts on the Product】

We challenged ourselves to develop and socially implement the stress coping app "Magical Mirror Aquarium" to relieve the pressure of stress. We aimed to build a unique worldview called "a blue world where burdens are raised," where users can release sudden negative emotions as fish and observe or eliminate them, thereby freeing themselves from worries. Through a product-out approach that prioritized the team's vision, we pursued a state where users could "beautify" and organize their emotions.

【Challenges Faced & Conflicts】

・Development using 3D rendering and game engines like Unity
・Discrepancy between the unique worldview and usability
・Communication and progress delays
・Lack of user understanding

There were times when communicating requests to engineers and local co-creation partners was difficult, and app development verification did not progress smoothly.

【Growth & Learning】

・Re-recognized the importance of increasing "user resolution."
・Balancing sensibility and practicality.
・Utilizing psychological support from mentors.

We reaffirmed the "respective strengths" of the two siblings and sublimated them into the next challenge.

■ Final Presentation Event Held

The program's final presentation event was held on February 8, 2026.

During the event, SAND lab entrepreneurs shared their entrepreneurial experiences throughout the program, and players involved in nurturing entrepreneurs based in Saga, Nagasaki, and Tokyo gathered for a discussion on "DAO-based entrepreneurship education" and "visualizing and assetizing 'experience.'"

【Details】

Date & Time: February 8, 2026, 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Venue: Monozukuri Cafe Konekurika

Talk Session Panelists:

Kazuhiro Nagao

Advisor, J-Flec Certified Financial and Economic Education Promotion Organization, Nagasaki Prefectural Government Department of High School Education

Doctoral Course Student, Graduate School of Regional Revitalization, University of Nagasaki

Reita Fujiyama

Steamship Co., Ltd.

Representative Director

Founded "Steamship," a "Regional Treasure Hunting Company," in 2017. Currently sailing with approximately 400 crew members under the mission "Changing the Future from the Region."

Takeshi Fukuda

Recruit Co., Ltd., Human Resources

Founder of "HITOLAB," a research and development organization focused on "people and organizations" in collaboration with municipalities, schools, and other companies.

Number of Attendees: 33

【Issuance of Completion Certificate NFTs】

Regardless of whether they succeeded or failed in their EXIT, the three months of entrepreneurial effort involved struggles and growth, and we are confident that each was a valuable learning experience. Graduates were issued "Completion Certificate NFTs" with their activity history recorded on IPFS (decentralized storage) in an unalterable state, visualizing and assetizing their individual decision-making processes.

【Participant Feedback from the Discussion】

"DAO-based Entrepreneurship Education"

Voices were heard evaluating the mechanism where students, not adults, held decision-making power through token ratios on the SAND lab DAO, stating that clarifying "who makes the final decision" is essential for youth independence. It was also suggested that the true value of DAO-based education lies in the cycle where the community praises and turns the lonely decisions of an entrepreneur (who "decides and moves forward even when stopped by others") into confidence.

"Valuing and Assetizing 'Experience'"

Regarding the valuation and assetization of experience, unique ideas were exchanged, such as "visualization" and "labeling" using hashtags. However, a sharp point was made that simply making things transparent and flat is not enough. If experiences are categorized as mere "event participation" or "volunteering," their "unique value" such as internal struggles and learning disappears. Therefore, it is necessary to visualize the entirety of a person's life (process) and assetize "true achievements" that cannot be faked. It was also pointed out that the "purity of the process"—how and by whom decisions were made—is being questioned.

The final presentation event can be viewed on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/jFMSyz7X0oE

■ Future Outlook

InnoDrops aims to expand this program beyond a one-off educational initiative, serving as a "foundation for creating a co-creative human resource development ecosystem within the region."

SAND lab, an initiative of InnoDrops, will undertake the following in fiscal year 2026:

1. Expand Projects Connecting Students x Businesses x Manufacturing within the Region

   • Implementation of the SAND lab 2026 program

   • Support for collaborative projects between Kyushu students, businesses, and engineers

2. Create a Hub for "Circulating Challenges and Experiences" for Young People

   • Operation of SAND lab KARATSU

     InnoDrops opened "SAND lab KARATSU," a manufacturing hub in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture, starting in fiscal year 2026. This hub will be a place where young people can engage in manufacturing as social entrepreneurs using 3D printers and PCs.

   • Details here:

     https://www.instagram.com/sand_lab_karatsu/

3. Build a Foundation for "Circulating" Challenges and Experiences

   • Development of a Wallet App

     As a foundation for visualizing experiences as social entrepreneurs, connecting them to future challenges, and fostering circulation within the region, we will work on developing a wallet app where experience points can be accumulated and utilized. We aim for a product that draws out the students' proactivity and serves as an engine for self-driven action as social entrepreneurs who improve their communities.

■ About General Incorporated Association InnoDrops

InnoDrops, with the philosophy of "Expanding the radius of our world beyond existing perceptions," is an organization that implements learning systems integrating STEAM education, entrepreneurship education, and mentor training within communities.
We work to foster an environment where innovations originating from the region can emerge through collaboration between education, businesses, and government.

【Contact】

General Incorporated Association InnoDrops
Mail: contact@innodrops.org
URL: https://www.innodrops.org/