Whole Earth Foundation Ltd. (HQ: Singapore; Founder: Takashi Kato; hereafter ‘WEF’) will raise a total of JPY 2 billion (Equivalent to Approx. USD15.4 million) in funding from INFORNEER Holdings Inc. (HQ: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Kazunari Kibe; hereafter ‘INFRONEER’).
Upon this financing, a new company will be established by INFRONEER to provide new infrastructure management services that utilize infrastructure data collected by TEKKON, a citizen-participatory infrastructure data collection application developed by WEF. This new company will be led by the ‘Fantasy Sales Department’, derived from an unofficial department of Maeda Corporation (HQ: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Soji Maeda; hereafter ‘Maeda Construction’), which is part of INFRONEER, to ‘turn fantasy into reality’. Through this collaboration, the challenge will be to create an infrastructure management system that tries out future citizen participation, with a view to the social implementation of Web 3.0 and the problem of population decline in Japan.
TEKKON is a Web 3.0-compatible game app that collects images and locations of manholes and other infrastructure taken and posted by users via the app from their smartphones, tablets, and other devices. In addition to allowing users to contribute to infrastructure management while enjoying the game-like experience. TEKKON provides an incentive for citizens to casually participate in contributing to infrastructure and society by offering them Whole Earth Coin (WEC), a token originally issued by the WEF, as compensation.
The ‘Fantasy Sales Department’ is a series of web content in the form of a story that presents the challenges and solutions in an easy-to-understand manner, using structures from fantasy worlds such as anime and video games as targets to be realized. The primary objective of this form of communication is to convey the appeal of infrastructure and infrastructure services to those who are not involved in construction and infrastructure management.
Through this partnership, TEKKON, which supports Web 3.0 and collects infrastructure data through citizen participation, and the Fantasy Sales Department, which has the ability to communicate the appeal of infrastructure and infrastructure services to many people, will collaborate to realize and co-create a solution for citizens to participate in infrastructure management as a whole with interest.
Additionally, WEF’s founder, Takashi Kato, a serial entrepreneur who has led several high-tech ventures in Japan and the US from inception to EXIT, will be appointed as CEO and Representative Director of WEF and Kazunari Kibe, President of INFORNEER, as Director of WEF to bring his extensive management experience to assist Takashi Kato, within May. Kato will devote his full attention and energy to the operation and success of TEKKON.
■About TEKKON
TEKKON is a new social contribution location-based game that aims to secure infrastructure safety by encouraging citizens to join forces in photographing, posting and reviewing each other’s work on the issue of aging infrastructure.
TEKKON encourages citizens to participate in infrastructure management and social contribution by providing a mechanism whereby they are awarded WEC, a unique token issued by WEF, in return for taking and posting photos of infrastructure such as manholes and utility poles.
Name of application: ‘TEKKON’.
Fee: Free of charge
How to download:
iOS App version: App Store (iPhone) Distribution
Android app version: Google Play distribution
Applicable models: iOS app version: iPhone (iPhone 6s or later OS ver. 15)
Android app version: Android (Android and later OS ver. 7)
General service start date: 17 Oct (Mon), 2022
URL: https://lp.tekkon.com/
■About WEF Founder: Takashi Kato
Takashi Kato is a serial entrepreneur from Japan whose vision is “Engineering a social good”. He currently resides in Silicon Valley, California, USA. After working at the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi and in corporate restructuring, he co-founded the humanoid robot venture SCHAFT in 2012. In November 2013, he sold the company to Google HQ in the US, attracting global attention. In June 2015, he founded Fracta, a software development company in Silicon Valley, USA, which uses artificial intelligence to optimize investment in water pipeline renewal, and sold a majority stake to Kurita Water Industries Ltd in May 2018. He served as CEO of the company until December 2021 and is currently its chairman. He founded the non-profit organization Whole Earth Foundation (WEF) in Singapore in 2020 with the aim of implementing a mechanism to assist with community improvement on the blockchain that he devised in 2017.
Within May 2023, he will be appointed as CEO of WEF and is now devoting all his energy and attention to the operation of TEKKON.
■About the Fantasy Sales Department
The “Fantasy Sales Department” will continue the production of a series of articles – first started more than 20 years ago in February of 2003 – which describe on what would happen if Maeda Corporation were to receive an order for a distinctive building that exists in the imaginary world of anime, manga and games, and construct it using current technology and materials, including a realistic construction period and costs. On 31 January 2020, an innovative film employing this approach of creatively telling a story was released based on the true story of the construction and design of the Mazinger Z hangar. After the establishment of Inforneer in October 2021, not only Maeda Construction but also the entire Inforneer Group has been promoting the attractiveness of infrastructure and infrastructure services. Maeda Corporation and Inforneer Group believe transparency and education is one of the most important factors in gaining the trust of customers, end users, and local communities, and strive for the “Fantasy Sales Department” to deliver on both of those goals.
Official website of the film Maeda Construction Fantasy Sales Department: https://maeda-f-movie.com/
Maeda Construction Fantasy Sales Department: https://www.maeda.co.jp/fantasy/
