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LINE SMART CITY DAY FUKUOKA 2020 Event Report

In LINE Fukuoka Corporation (“LINE Fukuoka”; Location: Hakata Ward, Fukuoka; Representative Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer: Noritaka Ochiai) LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA co-creation initiatives with residents, the local government, and private businesses, the company has undertaken projects to support the daily lives of Fukuoka City residents by utilizing LINE technology to make the city a more affluent place and create new value. One of the main initiatives is the Fukuoka City LINE official account, which has more than 1.74 million registered friends.

At LINE SMART CITY DAY FUKUOKA 2020, achievements for LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA projects were announced focusing on three categories – participation, co-creation, and expansion. New projects for promoting Digital Transformation (DX) available to residents as well as co-creation projects and nationwide developments were also announced in addition to our strategy for fiscal year 2021 as LINE Fukuoka leverages the Fukuoka Smart City model to accelerate DX across Japan.

＜Primary announcements＞
■ LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA Achievements
Participation: The Fukuoka City LINE official account – the top domestic local government account with 1.74 million registered friends
LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA average monthly hour reduction of 37,800 hours
Co-creation: 60 projects　
Expansion: Three local governments in Kyushu across two prefectures

■ Three new projects announced
① New verification testing with Fukuoka Airport in an effort to achieve an “Airport with No Lines”
② The Disaster Prevention feature set was added to the LINE SMART CITY GovTech Program, which offers the source code of the Fukuoka City LINE official account to all local governments free of charge
③ “LINE SMART CITY Open Knowledge” releases the operational know-how and design data of the Fukuoka City LINE official account, which has more than 1.74 million registered friends

■ LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA goals for 2021
Participation: Aiming to make Fukuoka into a Smart City that is top class within Japan of resident usage rate
LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA average monthly hour reduction of 40,000 hours　
Co-creation: 100 projects　　
Expansion: Across 47 prefectures (more than one local government for each prefecture) and major cities in Asia

Below you can read a summary of the day’s events.

You can also find an archived video of the event here.

■ Program and speakers
• Opening Talk – LINE Fukuoka’s Journey　
LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA Goes Nationwide
Speaker: LINE Fukuoka Corporation, Director and COO – Yusuke Suzuki

• LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA Journey – An Active Smart City promoted by LINE Fukuoka
Learn about the service results and know-how that changed the daily lives of 270,000 residents
Speaker: LINE Fukuoka Corporation, Smart City Strategy Department Head – Naoki Minakata

• LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA, and Its Vision for the Future – The Strategy for Creating an Open Smart City
From Fukuoka to all over Japan – The actions to realize a Japanese Smart City
Speaker: LINE Fukuoka Corporation, Smart City Strategy Department Head – Naoki Minakata

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Opening
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In the Opening session, Director and COO Mr. Suzuki looked back at the trajectory of the “LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA” project which promotes collaboration with residents, governments, and businesses based on the desire to “cultivate LINE services together with Fukuoka residents and contribute to the city.” LINE Fukuoka was drawn by the appeal of closing the distance between Fukuoka City residents, businesses, and local governments to create a “sense of unity” within the city, as well as working together with everyone in the city to nurture LINE, and take on challenges in a new field, which led to the company entering the Smart City field. He stated that in order to realize our vision of a LINE Smart City, the company will value “changes in daily life” and “trust” with residents as the project moves forward.

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LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA Journey – An Active Smart City promoted by LINE Fukuoka
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LINE Fukuoka Smart City Strategy Department Head Mr. Naoki Minakata took to the stage to present the current performance figures of the LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA project.

＜The current status of LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA＞
Participation: The Fukuoka City LINE official account – the top domestic local government account with 1.74 million registered friends
LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA average monthly hour reduction of 37,800 hours
Co-creation: 60 projects　
Expansion: Three local governments in Kyushu across two prefectures

LINE Fukuoka has focused on three concepts in its Smart City business – co-creation, participation, and expansion.

Up to now, the “LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA” project has undertaken 60 initiatives with local businesses, governments, and experts in each field. These projects have reduced the man-hours and time required on a variety of occasions such as confirming documents for government processes and reception time, creating an average monthly reduction of 37,800 man-hours¹ for each project.

Furthermore, LINE Fukuoka has received 100 inquiries from local governments and private businesses regarding the introduction of “LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA” after seeing initiatives with Fukuoka City, and currently three local governments have introduced the project.

¹Total of reduced time through the use of services LINE Fukuoka is involved in such as LINE applications for oversized garbage pickup × number of uses divided by nine (Calculated period: January – September 2020)

■ The keys to DX spreading among residents are “the size of changes in daily life,” “timeliness,” and “the number of people impacted”

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed people’s lives. In order to meet various needs that previously didn’t exist such as inquiries related to infection, and avoiding crowds and contact with others, LINE Fukuoka worked together with local governments and businesses to release eight initiatives to prevent infection. Some services were released in as little as three days, and as a result of providing a speedy response to the issues residents are directly facing, a chatbot feature for responding to inquiries regarding infection and the special cash payment were added to the Fukuoka City LINE official account, and its registered friends grew by 110,847 between February 20 – November 30, 2020, which is approximately three times the growth in previous years. The chatbot was used more than 100,000 times in just one month after its release, and residents responded very positively to it.

Furthermore, we observed during the course of 2019 and 2020 a clear correlation between growth in the numbers of registered friends and the growing issues affecting society and city life, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters. From this correlation, we have concluded that our efforts to bring about timely resolutions to such issues being faced by large numbers of residents, as well as our continuing commitment to improve the lives of residents, has positively impacted the adoption and entrenchment of our services.

■ The impact of “LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA” according to residents

In 2020, LINE Fukuoka didn’t just respond to COVID-19. In order to solve school life issues, we also provided LINE’s segmented information delivery and a chatbot as a solution. Over 50,000 residents registered for these school-related features in approximately two months since their release and have received a big reaction.

＜School-related LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA Projects Released in 2020＞
① The Safe School Lunch Management Feature for Providing Allergy Information and Detailed Menus is Introduced to the Fukuoka City LINE official account

The “Safe School Lunch Management” (あんしん給食管理) feature, which gives allergen information and detailed menus for school lunches on the Fukuoka City LINE official account, was developed in an effort to bring allergy-related incidents in Fukuoka City elementary schools to 0. Currently, the feature is used by 2,599 residents. (As of December 7, 2020)
[Reference] 2,513 students in Fukuoka City elementary schools have food-related allergies (As of May 1, 2019)

②The Fukuoka City LINE Official Account Introduces “School Closure Notifications.” Get Timely Notifications on LINE When School is Closed Due to Natural Disasters

If single parents and parents that both work are worried about leaving their children alone. When schools are closed, they need to take the day off from work and have a backlog of work due to the leave. If they let their children stay at home alone, they need to do many things in advance such as preparing lunch. By introducing the School Closure Notification (休校情報等通知) feature, the board of education can collectively send school closure notices directly to parents, allowing them to receive the information instantly. This feature is currently used by 56,057 residents. (As of December 7, 2020)

We received a video letter from Mr. Yoshiya Minamishogaku, Principal of Nishijin Elementary School, and Nutrition Teacher Mr. Izumi Kawasaki regarding this initiative.

“For children with food allergies, mistakenly eating something they are allergic to is something that absolutely cannot happen. Parents and teachers both pay close attention to menus, however there is always the risk of human error. The feeling of having to avoid a single mistake every day places a lot of pressure. When I learned that the Fukuoka City LINE official account introduced a feature for getting allergy information in school lunches, I registered the allergies of our students immediately. The next day, I was thrilled when I got a LINE notification about those allergies.”

Q: Please tell us how you felt when the feature was introduced.
A: I was thrilled! I also immediately registered the allergy information for Nishijin Elementary School students. A notification came to my phone at the time I selected, and I was very happy.

■ New projects announced to accelerate “co-creation” and “expansion”
Several new projects related to co-creation and expansion were announced to further accelerate the LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA project.

① Fukuoka Airport and LINE Fukuoka Collaborate on a LINE Official Account to Pre-purchase Souvenirs and Check Airport Information Aiming to Realize an Airport without Lines
Service start: December 15, 2020

Verification testing of a new LINE Official Account to let travelers pre-purchase and pick up souvenirs as well as get flight information operated by the Fukuoka Airport begins today in a joint project with the airport. By using the Fukuoka Airport LINE official account, people can now pre-purchase and pick up souvenirs on LINE and check congestion information for security checkpoints, in addition to seeing a floor guide and shop as well as flight information. In this verification test, we expect to see a reduction in lines at registers, improved convenience in getting information, and avoidance of congestion and close contact.

Please see this press release for details.

② The Disaster Prevention feature set was added to the LINE SMART CITY GovTech Program, which offers the source code of the Fukuoka City LINE official account to all local governments free of charge
③ Introduce features to LINE accounts for searching for evacuation shelters based on location information, chatbots to provide guidance in evacuation actions, and more
Service start: December 15, 2020

LINE Fukuoka collaborates with Fukuoka City to promote GovTech (promotion of the utilization of technology to streamline work and improve the quality and convenience of government services) by utilizing LINE Official Accounts. In order for those structures and knowledge to assist other local governments across Japan, features modeled after the Fukuoka City LINE official account were developed, and the LINE SMART CITY GovTech Program, which offers that source code to local governments nationwide, launched in October 2020.

Now, the Disaster Prevention feature set is also provided in the LINE Smart City GovTech Program. After service began for the disaster prevention-related features in the Fukuoka City LINE official account, local governments nationwide have made inquiries about the feature and we have overhauled these features to make introduction simpler in each town.

<Source Code Provided for Disaster Prevention-related Features>
• Switching to “Disaster Mode”
• Searching for the nearest evacuation shelters based on location
• Evacuation action support chatbot

Disaters always come unexpectedly. This program allows for features to provide information to residents so that they can prepare for disasters in advance and deliver educational information about disasters. These features can be quickly introduced by reducing the time and cost spent on development.

Please see this press release for details.

④ The “LINE SMART CITY Open Knowledge” to Promote DX in Local Governments Nationwide Released Today
This program offers the Fukuoka City LINE official account’s operational know-how and design data for notifications and releases a wide variety of knowledge including the creative solutions aimed at creating a LINE Official Account with 1.74 million registered friends and its operational system
Service start: December 15, 2020

Striving to make the introduction and operation of GovTech in LINE Official Accounts as well as promoting resident use smoother, LINE Fukuoka is launching the “LINE SMART CITY Open Knowledge”, which contains the operational know-how and data which helped the Fukuoka City LINE official account grow into the largest¹ local government account with 1.74 million registered friends, as well as the PR and planning tools used to promote the account. By releasing the knowledge and experience that we’ve gained through operation of the Fukuoka City LINE official account up to this point, LINE Fukuoka is striving for a smooth and speedy digital transformation for other local governments across Japan through the utilization of LINE Official Accounts.

Please see this press release for details.

¹The amount of registered friends for local government accounts as of November 4, 2020

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• LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA, and Its Vision for the Future – The Strategy for Creating an Open Smart City
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In the next session, Mr. Minakata explained LINE’s strengths in promoting Smart City transformations within Japan.

The Smart City Strategy Department believes that the essential elements are “social and city issues,” “the technology to solve them,” and “people using that technology.” LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA focuses on “the people using that technology.” In order to promote DX in a country like Japan that is said to be lagging behind, changing mindsets to become more digital across the country is necessary, not just services. In order to make digital technology more familiar, and realize the dream of “CLOSING THE DISTANCE between residents and technology,” the Smart City Strategy Department values the promotion of DX and has worked in business in that field.

By utilizing the LINE platform, which already has 86 million Monthly Active Users (MAUs), the dream of “CLOSING THE DISTANCE between residents and technology” can be realized more quickly than developing new applications from scratch. Furthermore, LINE Official Accounts can be created by local governments, private businesses, and individuals alike, the development process is flexible, and the ability to quickly develop a service to solve an issue can be called LINE’s strength in DX.

For example, in urgent situations that require a swift response such as an infectious disease or natural disaster, these strengths can be further utilized.

■LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA goals for 2021

The LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA expanded drastically in 2020, and LINE Fukuoka announced goals for 2021 in an effort to expand even further.

＜LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA goals for 2021＞
Participation: Aiming to make Fukuoka into a Smart City that is top class within Japan in terms of resident usage rate
LINE SMART CITY FOR FUKUOKA average monthly hour reduction of 40,000 hours　
Co-creation: 100 projects
Expansion: Across 47 prefectures (more than one local government for each prefecture) and major cities in Asia

Moving forward, LINE Fukuoka will continue to utilize the Fukuoka Smart City model to accelerate DX across Japan, based on the company’s vision of “Life on LINE.”

[Appendix]

■ About Fukuoka City’s LINE Official Account
The Fukuoka City LINE official account (LINE ID: @fukuokacity) was launched on April 25, 2017 as a part of our Information Provision Fortification Tie-up Agreement with the city. The account was launched equipped with a segmented delivery feature so that users could select and receive only the information they wanted by customizing the account’s information categories and residential area settings in advance.

Currently, Chatbots and features to send your location information are also being used in the account. The “Evacuation Action Support” (避難行動支援) feature helps users prepare for disasters and allows them to share evacuation information with their loved ones. With the “Infrastructure Report” (道路公園等通報) feature, users can report damage to infrastructure they find to the city. Users can also find out how to throw away garbage using the “Garbage Separation Support” (ごみ分別案内) feature, which lets users freely enter garbage types (such as batteries or pottery) into the message field.

Additionally, the account currently has 1.75 million registered friends and residents can use the “Childcare Assistance Feature” to instantly search for “Baby Stations” (such as for breastfeeding) that are nearby, and other features are offered to provide services that are closely related to daily life.

■ About the LINE SMART CITY GovTech Program
Leveraging our knowledge from developing features for the Fukuoka City LINE official account, these features can be used freely by local governments across the country in their official LINE accounts, and the source code offered by this program is free of charge. By offering this source code, our aim is to assist more local governments in using LINE Official Accounts to improve daily life for residents.
Please see this press release for details.

■ LINE Fukuoka Corporation overview
Company name: LINE Fukuoka Corporation
Location: JRJP Hakata Bldg. 12F, 8-1 Hakataekichuogai, Hakata Ward, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture
Representative: Noritaka Ochiai, Representative Director, President, and CEO
Capital: JPY 490 million (As of January 2018)
Established: November 18, 2013
Business activities: All development, creation, operational, planning, and sales activities for LINE and related services.
Homepage: https://linefukuoka.co.jp/en/

[Inquiries about this press release]
LINE Fukuoka Corporation, Public Relations Department: Ms. Ishiwata Phone: 092-292-3573 　
E-mail: dl_lfk_pr@linecorp.com