#Japan #Digital Innovation #Utsunomiya #KPMG Consulting #Utsunomiya City

KPMG Consulting and Utsunomiya City Forge Alliance for Community Revitalization

In a significant move towards boosting local development, KPMG Consulting has entered into a comprehensive collaboration agreement with Utsunomiya City, located in Tochigi Prefecture. The partnership aims to leverage sports and digital technologies to promote community revitalization as part of Utsunomiya's initiative for a "co-creation-focused urban development."

A Unified Approach to Urban Development

Utsunomiya City’s vision revolves around collaborative urban development, wherein citizens, businesses, organizations, and the government work together to enhance public services and create new value. This agreement will allow both parties to effectively utilize their intellectual and human resources, aiming to elevate the welfare of citizens and energize the region.

KPMG Consulting plans to draw on its extensive expertise and experience garnered from supporting various municipalities and businesses to focus on two primary areas: 1) promoting business innovation through sports open innovation, and 2) advancing digital transformation (DX) in both community and administrative realms.

Pioneering Sports Open Innovation

With an emphasis on producing new business models by linking sports with other industries, KPMG and Utsunomiya intend to foster a platform for sustainable sports open innovation, in alignment with Utsunomiya’s goal of integrating sports into urban planning. This collaborative approach aims not only to generate new industries but also to invigorate the local economy through sports events.

Key Initiatives

1. Promoting Business Innovation through Sports Open Innovation:
- Collaborations aimed at initiating new ventures by merging sports with other sectors.
- Coordinated efforts to catalyze regional economic growth centered around sports events.
- Development of skilled coordinators to boost sports open innovation.

2. Maximizing Digital Technologies for Community and Administrative DX:
- Exploration of community revitalization strategies employing digital technologies.
- Partnerships focused on enhancing administrative services through digital transformations.
- Training and securing talent for in-house DX initiatives within the government.

3. Additional Efforts for Public Welfare:
- Pursuing various projects that contribute to the overall welfare of the community.

Utsunomiya’s Commitment to Sports

Utsunomiya is dedicated to establishing itself as a city where every citizen, from children to the elderly, can realize their potential through sports. To achieve this, it plans to enhance the multifaceted value of sports to improve citizen well-being. The city aims to release a “Vision for Urban Development Utilizing Sports” in January 2024, which seeks to synergize sports promotion with tourism initiatives and foster multi-sector collaborations among industry, academia, and government.

About KPMG Consulting

KPMG Consulting is a member firm of KPMG International, specializing in business transformation, technology transformation, and risk and compliance. With a team of experts in strategy formulation, organization and human resource management, and digital transformation, KPMG provides a wide array of consulting services across various sectors including finance, insurance, manufacturing, automotive, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, energy, communications, media, services, and the public sector.

This collaboration is expected to shed new light on how sports and digital innovation can serve as catalysts for local community advancement, ensuring that Utsunomiya thrives as a beacon of co-created urban development.