Hakodate City Wins Dual Awards for Digital Transformation Initiatives

Recognition of Hakodate City's Achievements

In a significant achievement, Hakodate City has garnered two prestigious awards, the Excellence Award in the Regional DX category at the Japan DX Awards 2025, and the Grand Prize in the Municipal category at the Japan No-Code Awards. Both awards were announced during the ceremonies held on July 16 and 17, 2025.

These accolades spotlight the city's innovative approach to digital transformation, especially in efforts to ease the administrative burdens faced by families during the vital early stages of child-rearing. By leveraging the city’s official LINE account, Hakodate has worked collaboratively with the Planning Department’s Digital Community Section and the Mother and Child Health Section to digitize administrative processes from pregnancy through to the first stages of schooling.

What Sets Hakodate's Initiative Apart

Hakodate City’s initiative, branded around the slogan "Creating Space for Parenting", focuses on simplifying the administrative tasks for parenting households. The city has developed an online platform that allows residents to complete necessary administrative processes via LINE, minimizing the time and effort required for these interactions. The project is built on the GovTech Express platform, a bespoke conversational application developed by Bot Express, which has been implemented in over 330 municipalities across Japan as a template for parenting support initiatives, at no extra cost.

Highlights of the Initiative

The team at Hakodate has structured the project around two core values: empathy and convenience. Their commitment to pursuing kindness in administrative services is reflected in how they utilize no-code tools to empower municipal employees to design, refine, and co-create services that align with the needs of residents. The project emphasizes not only convenience but also the nurturing of a collaborative environment where feedback from frontline staff is incorporated into service enhancements.

Evaluation Points

The awarding committee praised the system design and user interface that epitomize “kindness” in public services. This recognition stems from the fact that city staff themselves take the lead in project creation, allowing for a service that resonates closely with the resident's perspective. Impressively, the city has structured a feedback loop where staff can rapidly implement improvements based on real-time suggestions from citizens, circumventing the typical delays caused by bureaucratic layers.