Summary

• The ICT advancement and the ideation of a “Super City” emphasize the provision of cutting-edge services spanning various aspects of daily life and data integration across multiple fields unfold.

• The innovative ‘smart lighting’ model equipped with ICT capabilities is to implement the “remote agriculture,” which is included managing field operations, visualizing production status, enabling tractor autonomous navigation, and remotely addressing external threats (e.g. pests, animals, and theft). 

• ICT advancement is also expected to create new services and improve administrative efficiency in the healthcare and education fields, in which the application of ICT is still lagging behind.

Content

The concept of “super city” (differentiated from the “smart city”) is currently being promoted by many governments, communities, and businesses worldwide of utilizing ICT technology to optimize public applications to tackle problems and to achieve a “sustainable city.”

This column will investigate examples of ICT utilization for improving administrative work and creating new services in areas in which this technology was traditionally difficult. 

While the “smart city” focuses on solving individual social issues and seeking optimal operation in a specific area, the concept of “a super city” emphasizes the provision of cutting-edge services across various areas of life and data collaboration across multiple fields.

Along with the super city concept, the way ICT is utilized has also undergone significant changes. In April 2021, two Japanese companies Giga Prize and Secual agreed to jointly develop a smart “streetlight” model to promote “remote agriculture” and facilitate the growth of sustainable cities.

“Remote agriculture” is a new form of agriculture that aims to make farming more comfortable by utilizing ICT. 

Smart “streetlights” equipped with ICT functions installed in fields have the potential to enable the performance of field management and production status visualization remotely. Besides, drones and tractors can navigate autonomously while preventing damage from, vermin, and theft through collaboration with IoT devices for agriculture.

Initially, through accurate autonomous navigation of agricultural drones and robotic farm machines, these smart “streetlights” equipped with an RTK antenna help transmit highly accurate location data. These data are used as a reference station contributing to automation and manpower savings in agricultural work. 

Additionally, utilizing full-color LED lights and motion-sensing cameras can enable pest and vermin control as well as crop theft prevention.

A new remote support farming system can allow for real-time visualization of production conditions in the field, remote control of agricultural IoT devices, and requests for on-site farm work.

In the future, smart “streetlights” could acquire environmental data such as temperature, humidity, illumination, and water level, and these data could be used to develop optimal farming guidance services tailored to the growth conditions of the produce.

Implementing the initiative of “remote farming” can create outsourcing opportunities through agricultural contracting. 

This also encourages young and intelligent workers from urban areas to engage in agriculture, promoting sustainable farming practices and potentially mitigating labor shortages.

And further promising applications from ICT-equipped smart “streetlights” to achieve the ideation of “super cities.” 

To put these “super cities” into action, new services and administrative efficiency by applying ICT technology are expected not only in the agricultural field but also in areas such as healthcare and education – in which ICT utilization is lagging behind.

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