Accelerating Social Problem Solving and Business Growth through Public-Private Co-creation — Public-Private Co-creation Award Selects 7 Finalists | Publink Summit for JAPAN 2026 SPRING

Publink Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Seiichiro Kakoi / formerly of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and Project K (Young Officials' Association for Creating a New Kasumigaseki; Representative: Naoto Nishiyama) have selected 7 finalists for the "Public-Private Co-creation Award," which will be held within the "Publink Summit for JAPAN 2026 SPRING."

This award received applications from across the country for diverse projects that transcend the boundaries between public and private sectors—government ministries, local governments, and companies—to tackle both social problem-solving and business growth. Finalists were selected through a document screening process by the organizers, under a format where government, corporations, and startups are evaluated on the same stage.

The selected projects will present on the day at the main venue of the Publink Summit, which will gather approximately 1,000 key public and private sector personnel. The Grand Prix will be decided based on evaluations from judges, including Mr. Horimoto, Director-General of the Financial Services Agency's Policy and Markets Bureau.

Through the award on the day, the aim is to accelerate the social implementation of the presenting projects and to create new projects stemming from the encounters and discussions generated there.

Official Website: https://publink.site/publink-summit/

About the Finalists

From numerous applications, cutting-edge projects tackling social issues through public-private co-creation were selected. The evaluation criteria are as follows:

・Impact on society
・Degree of public-private co-creation (division of roles, complementary relationship)
・Future development potential and sustainability

Finalist List

① Entrepreneurial Citizen Project / Sparta Camp / Hachimantai Meditech Valley — A Public-Private Co-creation Model for Generating Challengers and New Businesses from Depopulated Areas —

Makoto Nakakarumai, Section Chief and Head of GX Industry Promotion Office, Commerce and Tourism Division, Industrial Construction Department, Hachimantai City, Iwate Prefecture

In Hachimantai City, the "Sparta Camp," an intensive entrepreneur and development talent training program that is a pillar of the "Entrepreneurial Citizen Project," has been continuously run since 2015. In recent years, by linking it with the "Hachimantai Meditech Valley," a public-private co-creation mechanism has been built to comprehensively promote everything from talent development to prototyping, demonstration, commercialization, and dissemination. The administration handles problem organization, stakeholder coordination, provision of demonstration fields, and credit supplementation, while the private sector handles technology implementation and business development. This ensures that initiatives do not end as one-off measures, but rather create a cycle where trained individuals foster the next generation of challengers. This model is being developed as a regional model that continuously generates challengers and new businesses from a depopulated area with a population of approximately 20,000.

② Looking into Water Pipes Reveals the Mirai of Social Issues! ~Future Prediction (Water Supply Population, Vacant Homes)~

Hiroaki Sengoku, Representative Director, Microbase Inc.

This system develops and operates a highly accurate prediction of "vacant home occurrence" and "water supply population" by building unit until 2050, by analyzing "water usage data" held by local governments using AI. Through co-creation with Toyota City, it is Japan's first initiative to efficiently solve regional issues based on data, such as early awareness for potential vacant homes and identifying leakage points during water pipe freezing damage. Furthermore, by sharing future water supply population predictions across the entire city hall and publicly soliciting policy ideas, a foundation for cross-organizational data utilization has been established. This highly reproducible public-private co-creation model aims to implement "EBPM (Evidence-Based Policy Making)" to support local government decision-making in a depopulating society, such as public facility reorganization and infrastructure maintenance.

③ JAFTAS®

Izumi Era, Department Manager and Certified Public Accountant, Trade Compliance Department, Tokyo Kyodo Accounting Office

This initiative connects over 2,000 companies in the automotive industry supply chain and develops and operates a system for issuing EPA-based certificates of origin. It goes beyond merely providing a system; EPA experts are involved from the planning stage and provide support up to the operational aspects, complementing the soft aspects that cannot be achieved by the system alone, thereby improving the quality of certificates of origin and operational efficiency.

https://jaftas.jp/about-jaftas/

④ Updating Concrete Construction

Takuya Iwamoto, Representative Director, Polyuse Inc.

This initiative involves developing and promoting new technology, construction 3D printers, for concrete construction in the infrastructure development construction industry, and rapidly advancing its application on site. It fundamentally transforms about 80% of concrete construction, traditionally handled by formwork carpenters, to create a sustainable infrastructure construction method for future generations.

⑤ Digital Asset Transaction AML Joint Initiative Concept

Isao Kishi, Chief Business Producer, Hitachi, Ltd.

With the spread of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, criminal funds are moving across borders and businesses, while anti-money laundering (AML) measures remain a structure where each business handles it individually, leading to increased costs, personnel shortages, and information fragmentation.