Microsoft Innovation Center Report 2008-2009 vol.7
City of Asahikawa, Asahikawa Information & Communication Technology and Microsoft Collaborate for “City of Web Design” – Joint Establishment of Microsoft Innovation Center in Asahikawa
October 14th, 2008, Asahikawa Research Center
The City of Asahikawa, Asahikawa Information & Communication Technology (ITC), and Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan agreed to work together to realize the concept "Asahikawa; City of Web Design" and to vitalize the local IT industry. They established a local branch of Microsoft Innovation Center at the Asahikawa Research Center, and had a signing ceremony and press conference.
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New Challenge of Integrating Asahikawa's Design Skill, Inherited from Its Traditional Furniture Industry, with IT
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On October 14th, the signing ceremony was held in front of the press: the signers Masahito Nishikawa (Mayor, City of Asahikawa), Masashi Furukawa (Chairman, Asahikawa ICT), and Akihiro Oba (General Manager, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan) agreed that the parties would work together to achieve the vision of “Asahikawa; City of Web Design” and to vitalize the regional IT industry.
In this agreement, the City of Asahikawa, Asahikawa ICT, and Microsoft have agreed to enhance their cooperation in the field of Web design, utilizing Asahikawa’s proven design skills to vitalize the IT industry. In order to realize “Asahikawa; City of Web Design”, the parties aim to energize Asahikawa’s local industry by nurturing human resources and promoting Web design business.
“Asahikawa Research Center has long been working for the development of local industries, including the active introduction of IT,” said Mayor Masahito Nishikawa. “With the establishment of Microsoft Innovation Center here, we anticipate further growth, especially in the field of ICT (information communication technology).”
The City of Asahikawa’s traditional furniture industry, which Mayor Nishikawa described as “our important asset, with 100 years of history, has made a lot of effort with the latest designs, particularly in furniture design, including well-known events such as International Furniture Design Fair Asahikawa (IDFA) and Asahikawa Design Month.
“With this agreement, we would like to nurture good human resources with advanced Web development skills,” Mayor Nishikawa commented, “and provide support to increase the number of Web development companies in Asahikawa that can compete with other regions.”
| “Asahikawa; City of Web Design” vision and establishment of Microsoft Innovation Center | ||||||||||
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Industry, Academia and Government Work Together to Set Apart Asahikawa’s IT Industry from Other Regions
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The City of Asahikawa is the second largest city in Hokkaido. Its IT industry is, however, ranked lower than other regions in Hokkaido in terms of both sales and the number of engineers.
“For the promotion of Asahikawa’s IT industry, the priority is to set itself apart from other regions,” noted Masashi Furukawa (Chairman, Asahikawa ICT), “In order to address this situation, we concluded that industry, academia, and the government must cooperate, and we established Asahikawa ICT in April 2005. The goal of Asahikawa ICT is to set apart Asahikawa by incorporating cutting-edge technologies and nurturing human resources with advanced skills.”
With this agreement, Asahikawa ICT will collaborate with Asahikawa Design Association to nurture IT engineers and Web designers equipped with the latest Web technologies. They will offer design training for disabled people to develop employment opportunity.
In addition, the City of Asahikawa has started joint development projects with local designers and engineers. In 2007, they launched Asahiyama Zoo’s sub-site; Mother Earth, utilizing the new technology called Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and in 2008, developed Asahiyama Virtual Zoo with Microsoft’s latest Web technology Photosynth™ and Silverlight™.
“Thanks to Microsoft, who allowed us an early adoption of their cutting-edge technology WPF,” Asahikawa ICT Chairman Masashi Furukawa continued, “Mother Earth achieved 150,000 accesses per day. Microsoft has provided a variety of support to us, including sending their lecturers for technical sessions at Asahikawa ICT. The idea of a virtual Asahiyama Zoo on the Web emerged from this partnership.”
| Witness Comments on the Signing Ceremony | ||||||
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Strong Motivation and Leadership as the Key for the Local IT Industry’s Development
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With this agreement, Microsoft establishes a local branch of Microsoft Innovation Center in Asahikawa IT Joint Center, a new facility established by Asahikawa Research Center. This is the third local branch of Microsoft Innovation Center following Gifu and Sapporo.
“In our Corporate Citizenship activities, Microsoft can’t generate any results by itself,” says Akihiro Oba (General Manager, Developer & Platform Evangelism, Microsoft Co. Ltd., Japan), “because Microsoft’s role is to provide support. We are involved in various activities in a number of cities, and we clearly know the key for success is local peoples’ aggressive efforts. We are pleased to offer strong support for a region like Asahikawa where there is strong motivation and leadership.
Microsoft Innovation Center at Asahikawa will provide an environment equipped with Microsoft Expression and Microsoft’s Web design software. In addition, it will offer training content to learn Microsoft’s latest Web technologies. Its projects will expand to other engagements, including METI’s grant-aided training projects based on Asahikawa Design Association’s directives projects, training programs at Tokai University School of Design and Asahikawa University Business Information Academy, and MIC’s grant-aided Silverlight material creation training for disabled people.
“All the devices around us will be connected to the Internet for data exchange,” continued Oba, “In this era where IT is used in every aspect of our life, the user interface, including Web site, is very important because the inconsistency in operation procedures between devices would have a negative effect on the general usability. The focus of this agreement is on Web design. I anticipate Asahikawa’s design skills in its furniture industry will take on a new role in the new era.
| Memorial Seminar for the Establishment of Microsoft Innovation Center at Asahikawa | ||||||||||||||
On October 14th, a memorial seminar was held as part of Microsoft Innovation Center at Asahikawa’s establishment event. In addition to the introduction of Asahikawa IT Joint Center and Microsoft Innovation Center to the audience from industry, academia, and the government, a panel discussion on “Asahikawa; City of Web Design” was held to discuss the future of Asahikawa. As part of this special lecture, an introductory session on Photosynth, Web technology used in Asahiyama Virtual Zoo, attracted positive attention from a number of IT engineers and students.
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| Experience Cutting-Edge Web Technologies: Asahiyama Virtual Zoo Sneak-Preview at MIX essentials. "Silverlight Day" |
On Friday, October 10th, MIX essentials. "Silverlight Day", an event to introduce the latest Web technologies was held at Roppongi Academyhills. As part of this event, a sneak-preview of Asahiyama Virtual Zoo was presented at a dedicated booth. As the release of Silverlight 2 was anticipated in the following week, over 500 Web designers and application developers joined the event. The booth for Asahiyama Virtual Zoo, developed with Microsoft's latest Web technologies including Photosynth and Silverlight, received a lot of visitors who eagerly asked questions and operated the preview site.
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