News Releases

Acceleration of Co-creation for Commercialization of
Inter-Enterprise Information-Sharing Platform to Streamline
Real Estate Rental Contracts

With companies newly participating in the project, joint trials have been started for the further convenience of real estate rental contracts through inter-enterprise information sharing, utilizing blockchain technology

Tokyo, September 27, 2019 - Sekisui House, Ltd. (TSE:1928, "Sekisui House"), KDDI Corporation (TSE:9433, "KDDI"), and Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501 "Hitachi") announced that they have started joint trials to improve real estate rental contract process through blockchain technology based inter-enterprise information sharing*1, with other companies newly participating in the project, further accelerating co-creation for commercialization. In the joint trials, investigation will be started to simplify fire/earthquake insurance and energy services contracts required at the time of changing address with the participation of Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance Inc. (TSE:8630, "Sompo Japan Nipponkoa"), Tokio Marine Holdings, Inc. (TSE:8766, "Tokio Marine"), Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co., Ltd. (TSE:8752, "Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance"), Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (TSE:9532, "Osaka Gas"), and Toho Gas Co., Ltd. (TSE:9533, "Toho Gas") as new members.

*1

News Release dated March 19, 2019: Sekisui House, KDDI, Hitachi Collaborate on Information-Sharing Platform

<Respective Roles of Companies in the Collaborative Creation>

Background

The "super-smart society*2" envisioned by the Japanese Government (Society 5.0*3) aims to create new value for users and improve user convenience through digital technologies and data. In order to realize the super-smart society, a platform for sharing information among enterprises and aggregating mutual services are required.
Since April 2019, Sekisui House, KDDI, and Hitachi have conducted their initiative trial to establish an inter-enterprise neutral information-sharing platform using blockchain technology, which has immutability and high-availability*4 features and is considered to be suitable for secure information sharing among multiple enterprises.
This trial has verified the business model and serviceability of the one-stop service, such as a reduction in time spent by users through pre-filling the current address and telephone number when applying for preview of rental properties using personal ID verification information*5 held by Sekisui House and KDDI.

*2

The "super-smart society" is one in which the necessary things and services are provided in just the right quantities to those who need them when they need them. The diverse needs of the community can thus be met in detail, enabling everyone to receive high-quality services, so that the many differences in age, gender, geography and language can be overcome, resulting in vibrant, comfortable living.

*3

"Society 5.0": A concept put forward by the Japanese government, Society 5.0 is a vision of a new society and encompasses the efforts to bring about that society. Society 5.0's goal is to realize a prosperous, human-centric society that combines economic development with the resolution of social issues by leveraging revolutionary technologies (such as AI, IoT and robots) and various types of societal data. Society 5.0 is positioned to follow the four "societies": the hunter-gatherer society, agrarian society, industrial society and information society.

*4

A state in which the frequency and length of stoppages and discontinuations of functions and services provided by a system are minimized. This term is used to express the characteristic of a highly reliable system with high resistance to failure, capable of quick recoveries from failures.

*5

Personal ID verification information handled by the joint trial includes information such as names and telephone numbers of individuals, which are not information about actual customers, but information prepared for the trial.

Description of this initiative

As the second verification, sharing the personal ID verification information of those who shifted from the phase of previewing properties to the phase of contracting, with their consent, to simplify earthquake insurance and energy infrastructure service contract procedures will be investigated in collaboration with Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, Tokio Marine, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Osaka Gas and Toho Gas.
This will verify real estate rental contracts in the inter-enterprise information-sharing platform, such as simplifying various procedures for new service contract start of use, suspension, cancellation, and change of address. At the same time, in order to realize an efficient property preview without the presence of a real estate management company, it will verify the issuing of the smart lock*6 based on the personal ID verification information of the inter-enterprise information-sharing platform and viewing permission.

*6

Smart lock: A device for locking/unlocking things using a smart phone.

Future plans

Moving forward, Sekisui House, KDDI, and Hitachi will further advance collaborative creation together with Sompo Japan Nipponkoa, Tokio Marine, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, Osaka Gas, and Toho Gas, aiming at commercialization of the inter-enterprise information-sharing platform for real estate rental in 2020. The companies will enhance their initiatives through the standardization of online procedures for real estate rental contracts using knowhow obtained in the trials through use cases in real estate rental and will collaboratively create various services using the inter-enterprise information-sharing platform.
Moreover, the companies will widely call for companies and groups to participate in this project for application of the platform in the fields of financing and municipal administration, aiming at establishment of a company consortium in 2020 for the purpose of realizing an ecosystem useful for both customers and enterprises, and accelerating open innovation. Through the shared use of information held by each company and collected and shared on the platform with the consent of each customer, companies will create new value for users realized through the combination of data from different industries and the expansion of the scope of the industries through the bulk conclusion of contracts and one-stop procedures, they will thus realize further convenience across the borders of industries.

<Image of the inter-enterprise information-sharing platform by the consortium to be formed>