DI and the city of Maebashi began considering the implementation of social impact bonds, a new type of public-private partnership for solving social issues
Dream Incubator Inc. (Takayoshi Yamakawa, Preseident and Representative Director; hereafter “DI”) hereby annnounces that it has decided to consider the implementation of social impact bonds (“SIB”), a new type of public-private partnership aimed at providing lasting solutions to social problems with the city of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture (Ryu Yamamoto, Mayor).
SIBs are pay-for-success financing schemes in which governments utilize private funds, as well as creative ingenuity of private companies, to implement social projects. They have gained attention as a new type of public-private partnership aimed at solving social issues facing nations and municipalities. Overseas, SIBs have been increasingly introduced, especially in the UK, and recently, they have begun to be deployed in the field of healthcare in Japan as well.
SIBs are expected to be useful in addressing a host of social issues in Japan, including issues in healthcare, infrastructure maintenance and repair, disaster mitigation, recycling, children’s education, and urban planning and development. DI and Maebashi will investigate and research the application of SIBs to tackle these various social issues.
DI has been promoting “business producing” activities, which organically combine strategies, technologies, and policies to resolve a wide array of social issues. It has a track record of collaborating with relevant government agencies and municipalities as well as many private companies to conduct innovative projects. In addition to its partnership with Maebashi, DI is also considering the launch of SIBs with a number of other innovative municipalities* and intends to further expand its partner municipality base.
DI and Maebashi will share and leverage their expertise and networks, and through collaborating with the national government, service providers, and financial institutions among others, they will together consider the launch of SIBs with the aim of implementing initiatives that will have significant impacts on solving social issues.
*February 25, 2020 DI Press Release︓Signing of Memorandum with Toyota City Related to Social Impact Bonds, a New Type of Public–Private Partnership for Solving Social Issues (https://www.dreamincubator.co.jp/en/news/2020/16161/)
– About Dream Incubator Inc.（https://www.dreamincubator.co.jp/）
DI works not only to develop services for client companies, but also to produce businesses that
transform society and infuse energy into the Japanese economy. DI achieves this by combining
strategic consulting skills—the most universal, valuable, and fundamental skills in the business sphere—with managerial abilities honed by a pragmatic and ownership-spirited mindset fostered through our incubation initiatives.
– About Maebashi city（https://www.city.maebashi.gunma.jp/index.html）
Located about 100km northwest of Tokyo, Maebashi is a core city with a population of around
340,000 and a total area of 311km2. Surrounded by magnificent nature, with Mount Akagi on one side and Tone River flowing through the city, it is also known as a medical city where several large hospitals are located, and as an educational center with the city having formed partnerships with six universities in the city.
Maebashi strives to realize regional management aimed at attaining its future image of itself as a “New value creating city” and its vision of becoming a “Burgeoning city where good things grow,” directed toward regional revitalization. At the same time, with its ease of living as a springboard, Maebashi is actively working to resolve regional issues through leveraging the latest technologies and co-creation in the private sector, as well as promoting evidence-based policy making (EBPM) using big data accumulated in the public and private sectors. Currently, rather than limiting these initiatives to any individual fields, Maebashi is leveraging cutting-edge technologies of Japan’s Society 5.0 initiative to promote the vision of a super-smart society centered on a data coordination platform that collects and organizes data from across various fields and provides them. By doing so, Maebashi intends to undertake urban planning and development with the goal of enhancing welfare and convenience of residents in the future society.
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Dream Incubator Inc.
Strategy consulting: Masahito Ishikawa, Takahiro Shigemori
Phone: +81 (3) 5532-3200 / Email: info@dreamincubator.co.jp