YOMIKO Urban Life Research Institute Launches 'Civic Pride School for Consortium', a Talent Development Program for Regional Revitalization

YOMIKO Urban Life Research Institute (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President: Hideyuki Kikuchi; hereinafter "YOMIKO") has launched the "Civic Pride School for Consortium," a program to cultivate core talent responsible for regional revitalization. This program leverages YOMIKO's long-standing research on "Civic Pride®" and knowledge of "Community Creation®," in partnership with station Inc., a startup with extensive experience in real estate development and community management. This program is being implemented as its first phase in cooperation with the "Kumamoto DX Promotion Consortium" (Secretariat: Kumamoto Prefecture Digital Strategy Promotion Division). In recent years, regions face growing challenges due to issues such as a declining birthrate, an aging population, and depopulation. As it becomes increasingly difficult for local governments alone to address these diversifying regional issues, many are seeking new solutions and sustainable frameworks. Consequently, YOMIKO identified that fostering "people" who possess pride and affection (Civic Pride) for their town and act proactively is the key to solving regional issues. By leveraging insights from their efforts in producing the value of "places" and utilizing their proprietary indicator "Machi Insight 5 Indicators"(*1), derived from residents' consciousness data to identify hidden factors behind regional challenges, YOMIKO co-developed the "Civic Pride School for Consortium" with station Inc. to foster talent that autonomously generates locally-rooted innovation. (*1) Machi Insight 5 Indicators: A proprietary YOMIKO indicator that visualizes "needs for the town" felt by residents through five categories. It allows for a structural understanding of regional challenges and the direction to pursue by multi-dimensionally analyzing the relationship between town characteristics and residents. ■ What is "Civic Pride School for Consortium"? This is a hands-on program designed to cultivate core talent who co-create the future of the region by linking each participant's ambition and problem consciousness with regional and social challenges. The program consists of two main components: "Formulating Personal VISION" and "Acquiring Practical Techniques." Participants define their own ambition and problem awareness, deeply analyze regional challenges and needs, find ways to engage with the region, and formulate concrete visions for co-creating the future. Furthermore, it supports participants in acquiring concrete methods for planning and implementation, enabling them to shape their "own unique actions" within the region. Implementation of the training program to foster "Civic Pride" By utilizing not only the regional characteristics raised by municipalities and participants but also YOMIKO's proprietary "Machi Insight 5 Indicators," the program provides support to understand regional characteristics with high resolution by deriving "what is needed in the region" and "what is missing in the region" from objective data. Moreover, through realizing their own ambitions while engaging with the region, participants foster pride and affection for the city and a sense of ownership (Civic Pride) that they are actively involved, evoking a desire to contribute to improving the region and creating a positive cycle of activities. Curriculum connecting practice and co-creation Through the training program, participants learn the logic of planning and implementation, as well as the mindset and attitude required to collaborate with others. Going beyond simple learning, it encourages "intrinsic activities" where participants shape their own actions within the region, starting from their own passion and utilizing digital technologies. Designed to attract diverse participants Participants are chosen based on their "ambition" to act, rather than their experience. The exchange among enthusiastic talent with diverse perspectives leads to the sharing of new viewpoints and awareness of issues, creating a chain reaction of proactive actions. Through this talent development program, YOMIKO aims to support the dissemination and promotion of DX and the creation of innovation through the utilization of digital technology. - DAY 1: Takuya Noguchi, General Manager, Community Creation Business Division, YOMIKO - DAY 2: Kiwa Seki, Urban Life Research Institute, YOMIKO; Tomoko Sakamoto, Space Business Room, YOMIKO - DAY 3 / DAY 4: Yusuke Watanabe, CEO, station Inc. ■ What is "Kumamoto DX Promotion Consortium"? "Kumamoto DX Promotion Consortium" is a promotion organization for industry-academia-government collaboration, currently with about 800 member companies. Starting this fiscal year, it has newly launched the "Civic Pride School for Consortium," aiming to transform into a "self-reliant community" where members actively participate and promote activities.