Distribution of Local Brand Information Chosen by Local Residents
Required Information Retrieved Easily with Natural Language Navigation[1]Ebetsu City, Hokkaido

Creating an Economic Network through Tie-ups with Local Industry, Universities and Local Administrative Authorities

Towns that operate as bed-towns for major cities tend to reflect the image of major urban areas and it is difficult to establish their individual characteristics. Ebetsu City also seems to have inherited the image of a bed-town for Sapporo City, with its population exceeding 1.85 million people, and there is no doubt that the many local residents who commute to Sapporo for work have a very limited awareness of belonging to Ebetsu.

However, we are ideally situated with the huge Ishikari River flowing to the east and the impressive nature of the Nopporo Forest Park to the southwest. Agriculture is also flourishing and we have succeeded in producing Haruyutaka wheat, which just twenty years ago was thought to be very difficult to cultivate. We are also known as a University Town and play host to four university campuses, including the Rakuno Gakuen University, which is well-known for its courses in leading-edge veterinary science, the Sapporo Gakuin University and the Hokkaido Information University.

Although we have many regional public organizations that promote the region through local produce, sightseeing places and other so-called "local brands," we are also blessed with other local brand materials, such as Haruyutaka wheat, ceramics and bricks. The Ebetsu City Hall cooperated with local economic organizations and adopted a system of fostering local brands, but they were faced with the problem of it being difficult to drum up sufficient interest.

The person who came to our rescue and who played the most distinguished role in the project was Professor Shinya Watanabe of the Faculty of Commerce at the Sapporo Gakuin University. Originally involved in research in computer science at Hokkaido University, Professor Watanabe began to entertain doubts about Japan's IT industry placing the priority on technology and ignoring the viewpoint of the user, so he moved from the Faculty of Computer Science across to the Faculty of Commerce. He founded the Research Center for Advanced Electronic Business at the Sapporo Gakuin University in October 2001, and has since been involved in researching the most efficient methods of using IT technology in business.

It goes without saying that activities carried out within the confines of a university do not produce anything that is useful in business or in companies. But, Professor Watanabe's desire to use the knowledge he had accumulated in university for the benefit of the local area's economy and industry reached the ears of Mr. Naohisa Okawa, manager of Ebetsu City's Commerce Advancement Section in the Economy Division. Mr. Okawa has a unique background in that he used to be a newspaper reporter, which means that he had first-hand experience in the importance of creating networks between various people.

These two got on like a house on fire once they had met, and in December 2001 they gathered together all of the IT technicians who live in Ebetsu City and formed the Ebetsu IT Technician Association. They also started up the Ebetsu Economic Network in September 2002 in order to promote active exchanges between people involved in different fields within the local economy. Since then, this network has attracted approximately 130 registered members.

Mr. Okawa emphasizes the importance of this network by saying, "The conventional style of associations promoting exchanges between industries tended to consist mostly of agricultural associations and the Chamber of Commerce, etc., and it was difficult for them to come up with anything new. Establishing a network that was based on individual people attracted people from various walks of life, which enabled us to create the opportunity for farmers growing wheat to hear the opinions of noodle manufacturers, bakers and other users."

The idea of actively distributing information on Ebetsu wheat, bricks and other produce that they named Ebetsu Brands was conceived from this interactive communication. The members were split into different teams, and the first project the Ebetsu Economic Network began to work on was the development of the Ebetsu Brand Encyclopedia. Unfortunately, however, the project ran aground almost as soon as it started. Faced with this problem, Mr. Okawa asked Professor Watanabe to join the Ebetsu Brand Encyclopedia development team, and the project was restarted from scratch.