The CiP Digital Special Zone “Business Location and Government Cooperation”

The CiP (Contents Innovation Program) is a plan to construct a digital and content zone in the bay area of Minato Ward, Tokyo. Here is the final launch announcement.

5) “Business Location and Government Cooperation”

The intentions and ideas of directors and members bear great responsibility for business startup support and business matching. Since the CiP community traverses the business world, it can be expected to generate cooperative businesses that engage in information exchange. First we must enliven these community functions.

Further, CiP can be expected to support business startups by matching entrepreneurs with investors.

Already, the Cool Japan initiative went outside of government funds for industry innovation and began the exchange of ideas between financial institutions and civilians. At the current stage, we are proceeding to investment consideration by companies and private investors proactive in content and IT fields. It is also probable that the CiP itself will bring funds together.

We will also network with salons, events, subcommittees, and such to form concrete business matching programs. For instance, with The Association of Japanese Animations at the center, we are currently moving forward with plans to match the animation business world and other business worlds. The CiP will work with and expand such situations.

We also want to try to cooperate with the government and local governments. Thus, we are currently exchanging ideas about joining with the Office of the Prime Minister; the Intellectual Property Strategy Headquarters Cabinet Secretariat; the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry; and Tokyo. Most importantly, Takeshiba has been ranked as a national strategy special zone, and we want to bring insight and ideas to the government and execute projects that could not be previously realized in Japan.

There are many ideas for the special zone. For example, is it not possible, as a copyright special zone, to create an open public archive and market? Or, as a radio wave special zone, is it not possible to carry out consolidated experiments in transmissions and broadcasting? Or as an electronic signage special zone, is it not possible to undo restrictions on outdoor demonstrations and make the entire surface area into a large-scale film screen? As a drone special zone, there could be automatically operating drones and robots; as a superhuman sports zone, there could be cyborg competitions. We want to try to implement all of this.

Further, the Korean government established the “Contents Korea Lab” and is implementing the cultivation of human resource content and business support with national expenditures. On the other hand, CiP has industry-academic cooperation plans, but is currently arranging for financial government support. It will be considered if public finance measures are required for the project base.

CiP will make a place in which to enact all of these things. We are cementing plans to construct a 39-floor business building area in a 1.5ha (161459 sq. ft.) space, with a 8,000 m² (86111 sq. ft.) joint-use facility of labs and classrooms, concert halls, and studios. We are also arranging an 800㎡ community area therein for the CiP Convention. The separate pre-existing “Industry and Trade Center” will also continue to exist. An office will be placed atop it.

The area will be completed in early 2020. There will be a five-year duration of the project following its commencement. In that time the CiP Convention will zealously advance projects. Activity will begin in 2015, the town will be opened in 2020, and it will be domestically and internationally transmitted in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

After the town opening, we also want to attract international and domestic players and R&D organizations to make the zone a place of global interest.

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The CiP Digital Special Zone “R&D and Human Resource Cultivation”

The CiP (Contents Innovation Program) is a plan to construct a digital and content zone in the bay area of Minato Ward, Tokyo. This fourth part of the launch announcement concerns CiP research and education.

4) R&D and Human Resource Cultivation

Research and development was established based on a proposal by CiP directions and members. However, about ten suggestions had already been made by that point.

An example is the “Superhuman Sports Society.” It will develop new sports which utilize wearables and robotics technology, establishing an environment where anyone can become  superhuman. The plan is to form the society at the same time as the CiP Convention.

Another is ”next generation digital signage.” Turning to 2020, this would develop and actualize a 4K/8K and multilingual disaster prevention signage system. A research society was opened on this matter by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Tokyo also has been enthusiastic about it. We have plans to make Takeshiba an digital signage special zone and turn it into a showcase.

Then there is the ”artist commons” and “music archive.” The artist commons is a project based in the music world that grants IDs to artists, making it easy to produce, distribute, and manage content and promotional merchandise. We will develop and build relevant systems, then perform verification experiments. There is also a plan to make Takeshiba a copyright special zone for the music and movies archive that works in concert with this.

”IT policy research” is a project to sort and research the major agendas of international IT policies. This has already been advanced by collaborative research between Keio and Stanford Universities, Japan-America affiliated businesses, government and international organizations, etc. The CiP Convention will become host for and take over this research. There is also a plan for it to become the Japanese side of Stanford University-sponsored model research in Silicon Valley.

Thus, there are various plans not only for technological development, but also business models, government research, and educational curriculum development. In addition to scientific matters, we will also receive cooperation from persons in law, economics, design, and other extensive genres.

As the nucleus for research advancement, the Keio University media design graduate course (KMD) plans to base itself in Takeshiba. We also anticipate participation from Stanford University, which is promoting collaborative research. We will advance connection and collaborative research between domestic prominent universities and research institutions. We are appealing to prominent universities in the US, Europe, and Asia for cooperation with this project base. Such is the shape of our development as we aim for the formation of a collaborative research organization.

On the front of human resource cultivation and education, we will start with KMD and cooperate with colleges, graduate schools, and technical schools to design training programs for professional creators and producers.

The first step is the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology’s comics and animation human resource cultivation project. Vocational schools and related businesses are refining digital human resource cultivation policies and advancing curriculum development. We want CiP to function as the verification site for that activity. We also want to expand such activities to music, games and other content domains.

CiP human resource cultivation is not only for higher education. Japanese pop culture boosts the great expressive and creative abilities of children. Further enhancing those abilities with digital technology is an important strategy for Japan.

The nonprofit “CANVAS” promotes activity that boosts children’s expressive and creative power, and recently has been advancing national programming education development. Also, the Association of Digital Textbooks and Teaching (DiTT) is advancing digitization of formal education and grappling with the design of classrooms in the future. CiP wants to work with these organizations to establish content training in human resources starting in elementary school.

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The CiP Digital Special Zone “Four-Function Hub”

　The CiP (Contents Innovation Program) is a plan to construct a digital and content zone in the bay area of Minato Ward, Tokyo. Herein follows the third part of the launch announcement. It concerns the features offered by the CiP.

3) Four-Function Hub

We will produce a compact cluster of industry, education, and culture. The so-called ◯◯Valley plans received attention at one point, but Takeshiba is no valley. It is sea and air. We will make use of Hamamatsucho City by the Haneda Airport. We will digitally entertain foreign visitors.

We will expand and utilize the area facing Tokyo Bay. Tokyo is a capital city on the sea. Neither the US, nor the UK, nor France, Germany, Italy, China, or Korea has a seaside capital city. Let’s capitalize on our ocean, Tokyo. Let’s make use of the harbor, the waterfront, and the water surface.

We want Tokyo to be the hub that connects all regions: Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Ginza, Uchisaiwaicho, Shiodome, Akasaka, and Roppongi. Every stop along the Yamanote Sennai line has all manner of concentrated culture: music, fashion, animation, games, advertisements, TV, etc. Furthermore, Shibuya, Ikebukuro, and Shinagawa Station await redevelopment. We will also advance development as we turn to the Olympics. Every place will become digital, all will be connected.

We want to become the hub that connects prominent Japanese cities. We want to connect the content special zone of Sapporo; the movies, comics, animation, and games center of Kyoto; the music and games goliath of Fukuoka; the international film festival home of Okinawa; and many other cities.

We want to tie together the world’s prominent cities: Boston, west coast universities, London research facilities, Parisian events, the projects of Singapore, the incubation facilities of Seoul. We want to become the hub of all these.

The CiP has four functions: research and development, human resource cultivation, business startup support, and business matching. It will create technology, cultivate people, industrialize, and expand business globally, then research the results. I will try to depict that cycle.

We will consecutively enact development, training, and industrialization. We have no knowledge of such a production cycle model being successful in Japan, but this is how we wish to do battle. The digital realm contains large businesses which developed from research and development. Military research spawned the Internet, which resulted in net business. The game technology MIT developed in the 70’s gave rise to Japan’s game industry.

US universities have influence. Stanford University birthed Sun Microsystems, Yahoo!, and Google. Harvard University students created Microsoft and Facebook. MIT created eInk and $100 laptops. We want Japan to likewise show innovation in learning institutions.

There is precedent. The FM station opened by Tokai University in 1960 became FM Tokyo. In 2008, Osaka University and Keio University carried out an experimental project through industry-academic connections, which resulted in the net radio “radiko.” We want to inspire many such examples.

Although the CiP aims for a production cycle of research and development, human resource cultivation, business startup support, and business matching, it does not aim to create a sterile space. Imagine the “MIT Media Lab” which is like a digital toybox, the nonprofit “CANVAS” workshop project of children’s creations, the west coast business startup community “500 Startups,” and the chaotic “Niconico Chokaigi” convention where people of all spheres interact. We will concentrate such elements into one place that is active 365 days a year.  We anticipate a chemical reaction from this integration and fusion. Such is the kind of school, factory, and public space we wish to create.

　CiP wants to become Hatsune Miku. Hatsune Miku is composed of three components. First, “vocaloid” technology. If you write a song, this technology becomes a specialist singer. Second, content. The design is a 16-year-old, 158 cm, 42 kg character.

　And third, community. Niconico videos grew her up thanks to everyone’s participation. They tried songwriting. They tried singing. They tried musical performance and dancing. Everyone brought their own abilities to the table. The cooperative force of technology, design, and participation is Japan’s forte. We want to leverage this.

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