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News room

2024/08/05

News Press Release

ITOKI develops a prototype to update office workers breaks through IoT community

Leading co-creation through individual company projects in the ifLink open community

ITOKI CORPORATION (Headquarters: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Koji Minato) became a premium member of the ifLink Open Community (hereinafter, ifLink Open Community), a general incorporated association that provides an IoT platform, in January 2023, and is pleased to announce that the activity report for the individual company project "Bistro ifLink" has been compiled. In addition, we will continue our membership in 2024, aiming to develop our digital transformation human resources and improve digital skills related to digital transformation with IoT as the core.

background

Currently, in order to secure digital transformation talent, which can be said to be one of the social issues, we are enhancing our educational programs and providing various opportunities for learning and practice in order to develop talent both inside and outside the company. We consider joining the ifLink Open Community as part of these efforts.

In addition, the ifLink Open Community is based on the IoT platform ifLink, which allows you to freely combine web services and IoT devices, and its value lies in providing three places (meeting, trial, and entrepreneurship) for co-creating an "open IoT market" where anyone can use IoT, even if they are not an expert. One of our aims is to strengthen the driving force behind cross-industry exchange and collaboration.

As a major activity for 2023, we have launched "Bistro ifLink," an individual company project of the ifLink Open Community, with our company at the helm. With the aim of updating the "break" experience in the office during WORK-Style with IoT, we recruited volunteer members from the community, including members from other companies, launched two co-creation projects, and created prototypes to embody the ideas.

Co-creation project 1: Matching breaks with people

The first project is based on the concept of "Expanding communication during breaks - Find friends with common hobbies" and has the theme of "Improving the quality of breaks". The aim is to use IoT to match breaks with people, for example, to create a mechanism for office workers who have issues building an internal network to casually chat with members of other departments during breaks. Specifically, we have created a prototype gimmick called "HITO-YASUMIC KUTSUROPYON (tentative)" that provides topics for chatting.

[Usage image of the gimmick]
(1) Place a gimmick next to the coffee machine in the break area
(2) If you turn on the machine while your coffee is being made, a sticker with a chat topic will be issued.
(3) Attach it to the coffee cup you purchased
(4) People using cups with chat stickers around them start talking to each other.

It can be difficult to start a conversation with someone from another department you don't know. This gimmick allows office workers who want to chat to be matched up, and by providing topics that can be used as conversation starters, it allows for a more fulfilling shared break time. At the completion report meeting, we received feedback such as "It's a good way to start a smooth chat," and "It can be used in a way that takes into account survey-like elements."

Co-creation project 2: Resolving the difficulty of taking breaks

The second project is based on the concept of "Take regular breaks to refresh your brain and body - schedule breaks" and has the theme of "Encouraging breaks". The aim is to visualize the difficulty of taking breaks and the degree of fatigue with an impactful gadget, leading to problem solving. Specifically, we have created a prototype gadget called "Refresh Flower (tentative name)" that encourages breaks when fatigue levels increase.

[Image of gadget usage]
(1) Place it on the table in the conference room
(2) Place drinks on the gadget for the number of meeting participants.
(3) A weight sensor detects how much drink is left
(4) When the drink reaches a certain level, the flowers move and emit a fragrance to encourage the drinker to take a break.

Everyone is aware that taking appropriate breaks is important for improving productivity. However, a pre-event survey in the community revealed a gap between the ideal and reality, and at the completion report meeting, opinions such as "I once again feel the need for appropriate breaks."

summary

The goal of these two projects is to produce prototypes by the end of 2023. Participating internal members have commented that they "learned the fun and difficulty of turning ideas into reality through collaboration" and "gave me some ideas for my regular development work." As it has been decided that the membership will continue into 2024, we will announce any new projects that are launched through press releases and official websites.

Related press releases

ITOKI, a leader in spatial digital transformation, launches ifLink Open Community to co-create optimal solutions for WORK-Style and "resting" using IoT
https://www.itoki.jp/company/news/2023/2308_iflink/

Itoki's promotion of digital transformation

ITOKI CORPORATION was founded in 1890. With the mission statement of "We Design Tomorrow. We Design WORK-Style." the company supports the creation of a variety of "spaces," "environments," and "places" by leveraging its strengths of "Tech x Design based on PEOPLE," including the manufacture and sale of office furniture, office space design, “Space," “Environment," and “Place" consulting, and office data analysis services, as well as furniture for working from home and studying at home, and equipment for public facilities and logistics facilities.
In the field of DX, we practice flexible "work styles" by cultivating and acquiring specialized human resources, developing and strengthening the DX foundation centered on infrastructure, and improving business efficiency and management by introducing ERP. Furthermore, we aim to improve the experience value of our customers by developing these into business creation in new fields such as data services and education DX.