SAKIGAKE管理人 — Toward Co-Creation That Implements Disaster Prevention and Resilience —
SAKIGAKE JAPAN Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Tokyo; President & CEO: Munetoshi Kondo) has been selected for Panasonic Corporation’s “New Market Exploration Program.”This program aims to create new markets and business domains that address social challenges, and supports partners in moving from concept development to proof-of-concept and, ultimately, commercialization through co-creation with Panasonic.
▼ Panasonic press release related to this announcement:
https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000006593.000003442.html
This selection reflects recognition of SAKIGAKE JAPAN’s long-standing approach in the disaster prevention and resilience field—specifically, our perspective of “redesigning society and infrastructure with disasters as a given,” as well as our strong emphasis on practical implementation rather than remaining at the level of concept alone.
The Structural Challenge: “Technology Exists, but It Doesn’t Reach”
Japan possesses world-class disaster prevention technologies and disaster-response know-how.
Across areas such as cold storage, power supply, lighting, sensing, seismic reinforcement, and data analytics, individual technologies are highly advanced. However, these technologies do not always reach the locations, communities, or international markets where they are most urgently needed.
Behind this gap lie several structural challenges:
- Individual technologies are difficult to communicate in terms of overall social value or impact
- Disaster preparedness tends to be undervalued during normal times, delaying investment decisions
- Responsibility for adoption and operation is fragmented among governments, companies, and residents
In response, SAKIGAKE JAPAN has positioned its business not around “selling products,” but around redesigning disaster response, business continuity, and regional resilience as systems that function within society.
What We Aim to Achieve Through Co-Creation with Panasonic
Through this program, SAKIGAKE JAPAN will collaborate with Panasonic to explore and demonstrate new social implementation models that cut across multiple domains, including disaster prevention, evacuation shelters, energy, and Green Transformation (GX).
Three principles are central to this collaboration:
- Solutions must be used continuously in everyday life—not only during disasters
- Models should be highly adaptable, without excessive dependence on specific regions or institutional frameworks
- Technology, operations, philosophy, and on-the-ground realities must remain closely aligned
Disaster prevention only functions effectively when it is embedded into daily life, rather than treated as a special response for emergencies. With this premise, both parties will work toward models with high feasibility and long-term sustainability.
SAKIGAKE JAPAN’s Role and Strengths
SAKIGAKE JAPAN has built and operates the “Disaster Prevention Exchange Database,” a platform specialized in disaster prevention and climate adaptation. The database systematically organizes and visualizes advanced disaster prevention technologies and services across Japan, while also matching them with domestic and international needs for resilience enhancement.
Key elements of our approach include:
- An “All-Japan” perspective that organizes and deploys multiple technologies collectively, rather than on a single-company basis
- A track record of designing and operating disaster resilience as implementable systems, not merely as理念 or awareness activities
- Practical collaboration experience with government agencies, corporations, and research institutions both in Japan and overseas
- The ability to conceptualize across disaster response, evacuation shelter management, and urban infrastructure with social implementation in mind
These strengths were evaluated as expanding the potential for new market creation and co-creation in the disaster prevention and resilience field, leading to this selection.
Direction of Co-Creation: Resilience Models Centered on Shelters and Urban Infrastructure
Going forward, Panasonic’s assets—such as energy systems, lighting, sensing technologies, and spatial design—will be combined with SAKIGAKE JAPAN’s expertise and networks in disaster prevention to advance exploration and demonstrations in areas including:
- Improving living conditions and well-being in evacuation shelters
- Phase-free design integrating energy systems and disaster preparedness
- Digital transformation (DX) for shelter operations and logistics management
- Resilience enhancement models at municipal and regional levels
Rather than one-off technology deployment, the goal is to build models that are structurally embedded in society and continue functioning over time.
Significance of the Selection
This selection represents more than an opportunity for demonstration. It marks an important step toward moving disaster prevention and resilience into the phase of full social implementation. Through collaboration with a major corporation, SAKIGAKE JAPAN aims to establish disaster resilience not as a temporary social issue, but as a sustainable foundational industry and market.
Another key significance lies in redefining Japan’s accumulated disaster prevention and crisis management expertise so that it can be applied beyond specific institutions or regions. Building frameworks in which governments, businesses, and communities can discuss and make decisions about disaster preparedness using shared assumptions and language is essential for strengthening resilience going forward.
Toward Global Expansion and Future Direction
SAKIGAKE JAPAN intends to develop the initiatives explored and demonstrated through this program into models suitable for future international deployment. Due to climate change and rapid urbanization, demand for disaster prevention and resilience is increasing sharply, particularly in Asia, the Middle East, and other regions of the Global South.
Rather than exporting Japanese technologies and practices as-is, SAKIGAKE JAPAN emphasizes redesigning them to fit local institutional systems, cultures, and infrastructure conditions, ensuring that solutions truly take root on the ground.
Looking ahead, we will strengthen collaboration with overseas municipalities, private-sector partners, and international organizations, evolving Japan-originated disaster prevention and environmental adaptation initiatives into resilience models that are actively used around the world.