Digital Garage Supports Joint DX PoC Projects by 8 Major Companies and 10 Real Estate Startups through “Open Network Lab Resi-Tech”

Digital Garage, Inc. (TSE first section: 4819; HQ: Tokyo; Representative Director, President Executive Officer and Group CEO: Kaoru Hayashi; DG) supports proof-of-concept (PoC) projects carried out jointly by 8 partner companies (COSMOS INITIA Co.,Ltd.; Takenaka Corporation; Tokyu Group; Tokyo Tatemono Co.,Ltd.; West Japan Railway Company; Nomura Real Estate Holdings, Inc.; Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corp.; and Mitsui Fudosan Co.,Ltd.) and 10 startups through “Open Network Lab Resi-Tech (https://onlab.jp/en/programs/resitech/),” a global accelerator program for real estate-related startups.

There is a pressing need in the real estate industry for DX, new initiatives tailored to our new normal, and other responses to the falling population, aging society, and impacts of COVID-19. DG and its partner companies (major real estate, construction, and lifeline companies) are striving to resolve common industry challenges in collaboration with startups like DATAFLUCT, Inc., which utilizes real-time big data for Smart City design; RESORTWORX Inc., which verifies the impacts of workcation demand on luxury resort facilities’ weekday occupancy rates; Mapsted Corp., a Canadian company that uses a highly precise indoor location based technology for marketing and communication with facility visitors; and Leela AI Inc., a Boston-based company with casual reasoning technology utilizing a visual AI engine for purposes such as detecting anomalies at commercial facilities and more. Multiple partner companies and startups will simultaneously conduct PoC projects to reduce the time required for standardizing the specifications confirmed in these projects, and also to step up the construction of new business models for DX and the new normal. DG will continue to support the creation of new businesses and the resolution of social issues through communities that comprise major Japanese partner companies and real estate-related startups.

■ Summaries of PoC Projects
Utilizing big data to provide data analysis services to all sorts of industries, including Smart Cities
This project will verify functions for providing total data services, from collection to analysis, required for decision-making when acquiring real estate sites (for newly built houses, rental housing, and condominiums). It will build a structure to monitor activity (human traffic, emotions, and economics) to verify functions that can be utilized for the PDCA cycle of urban development and town management.

Verifying a workcation business and studying the behaviors of workcation users
This project will examine the impact of workcation demand on the weekday occupancy rates of luxury resorts and other hotels through a demonstration project for the use of workcations at hotels and membership facilities owned by partners. More profound behavioral research will also be conducted on the Izu Peninsula in collaboration with “Izuko” (MaaS for the tourism industry).

Verifying an indoor location positioning and analysis technology that requires no location referencing equipment
Technical verification will be performed for a solution using original indoor location based technology, which is expected to offer higher precision than before at terminal stations, large commercial facilities, complexes, etc. This project will consider the effects of implementation, including increased convenience and productivity as well as planning and marketing applications.

Helping detect anomalies facilities and construction sites with an AI engine that can understand concepts
This project utilizes the “Constructive Learning Engine (LACLE),” an AI engine that can understand concepts, to verify required performance, issues, etc. regarding the ability to learn and understand concepts from small amounts of training data, as well as the feasibility of using LACLE to detect anomalies and support improved safety and security at offices, shopping malls, and other facilities, and prevent accidents utilizing AI to detect dangerous activity at construction sites.

Verifying the performance of person identification and contact tracing technologies that do not require facial recognition and confirming the use cases
This project will verify performance, produce use cases, and verify issues for implementation regarding “People Search,” which can identify and track people in a short period of time across multiple cameras without relying on facial recognition data.

Demonstrating a fully wireless electric power supply technology for office spaces
To realize power supply using a fully wireless electric power supply technology, it will operate environmental sensors that measure temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, and other measurements inside office spaces using fully wireless power supply. This project will extract issues for actual implementation and consider use cases by researching wireless electric power supply efficiency and exchanging views with partner companies.

A committee on implementing DX and connected workers in construction and real estate site
This project will discuss with our partner companies the use cases of connected workers using “THINKLETⓇ,” solutions to site issues and retrofit implementation methods. We will examine the DX image of construction and real estate sites, which are in need of change due to human resource shortages and the impact of the COVID-19.

A committee on creating drone air routes
With an eye to the coming future in which deregulation will bring drones into more widespread usage, this project is aimed at creating a world with drones that is safe and pleasant for consumers. Through measures such as exchanging views with partner companies, efforts will be made to establish urban development and Smart City models that support drone air routes.

Verifying community augmentability, starting from the management side
“station,” a community design tool, will be implemented for community management at multiple partner companies. In addition to resolving community management challenges, efforts will be made to build communities that function more energetically and are valuable to both managers and members.

Verifying the creation of distributed network-based urban development methods utilizing MaaS
This project will confirm the validity of “distributed network-based urban development” to visualize resident and user experiential values through data, and to design overall experiential value (including mobility) and the organic connections between areas that produce this value.