As Japan's birth rate continues to fall, creating good environments for raising children is a key challenge for local governments, which are also under pressure to work more efficiently. The childcare information app ikunowa is an ICT solution that addresses both, and we strongly recommend it to local governments.
About ikunowa
ikunowa is a web app that gives residents raising children the information they need in one place. Using data held by the local government, it provides information on facilities such as nursery schools and parks, as well as vaccinations and other childcare topics, to parents and others involved in raising children.
Features
More Efficient Work Inside Local Government
ikunowa reduces staff workload while supporting effective use of data, encouraging local governments to organize and publish their data.
- Data formats: data is managed in a standard format (based on the Digital Agency's standard open data sets for local governments).
- Publishing data: the organized data can be published as high-quality open data and reused.
- Data quality: the standard format keeps quality high, with IDs and version control.
- Motivation: seeing their data in use in ikunowa helps departments keep it up to date.
User-Friendly Interface
ikunowa is designed to be easy to use, so even first-time users can quickly find what they need.
Personalization
Information can be tailored to where users live and the ages of their children.
Recommended for Local Governments That Want To
- Provide information to families that reflects the character of their area
- Work out what kinds of information families with children need
- Make good use of the data they hold
- Build an environment for using data to advance digital transformation
- Promote open data but need more understanding within the organization
Functions
- Places: public facilities, parks and play areas, childcare facilities, schools and sports facilities
- Vaccination guide: recommended timing based on the child's date of birth
- Public programs: support programs for residents
- Related data: evacuation sites, parking and AED locations at a glance
- Flexible categories: such as accessible parks, safe houses for children, cherry blossom spots and indoor play areas
- Emergencies: important information delivered quickly during natural disasters or outbreaks
Results
Saga City
ikunowa is used as a mini app within Saga City's super app. Using 19 open data sets published by Saga City, it shows childcare facilities, play areas and public facilities, as well as local specialty products certified by the city and shops that support local produce.
Open Data and Community
Through ikunowa, local governments publish their data as open data so that residents and businesses can use it to create new services. Through Social Hack Day, Code for Japan's civic tech hack day, we also work with local communities so that governments and residents can use data together.
Getting Started
- Contact us through our contact form. We will send materials and discuss your plans.
- Data preparation: we organize your data in the standard format, with support from Code for Japan specialists.
- Setup: we set up and customize ikunowa with the prepared data.
- Operation and support: we support stable operation, regular data updates and new features.
Related: Community (Social Hack Day and more)
