Hiroyuki Kurimoto, Representative Director of Liquitous Inc.
“Even if I raise my voice, it won’t reach the government anyway”―such a mood of resignation prevails, and many citizens are reluctant to engage much in politics or government. Liquitous Inc. aims to build a bridge between government and citizens using technology to provide a route for citizen participation. We interviewed Hiroyuki Kurimoto, the Representative Director of the company.
Representative Director of Liquitous Inc.
―What kind of business does Liquitous Inc. do?
We are developing a participatory platform for online consensus building.
The platform is for citizens and administrative officers to come up with ideas and write text while collaborating with each other according to the topic of discussion. We are currently promoting the demonstration and introduction of the platform for municipalities and their projects to provide a new citizen participation mechanism that can align the perspectives of civil service and citizens.
―Specifically, what products do you have?
We have Liqlid, a participatory consensus building platform with the concept of enabling deep discussions and firm decisions.
The process of consensus building starts with coming up with ideas for each discussion topic. Next, participants launch a project based on the ideas they come up with. Then, they make discussions on chat and suggest corrections. Finally, they vote to reach a conclusion. Liqlid allows participants to do this series of tasks on a single platform.
We don’t intend to operate this platform stand-alone. For example, we integrate it with offline workshops or make it organically work with a mechanism like a living lab.
In addition, speaking of our future development, we are thinking about whether the platform can also be used to let citizens participate in review by committees in government offices.
―Which municipalities have introduced the platform and how?
At present, we communicate with about 20 municipalities and two private companies.
Their themes vary. For example, Yokoze-machi, Saitama Prefecture, is developing a project with the aim to communicate with residents about how to utilize the town’s land.
We have also received a request from Tosa-cho, Kochi Prefecture, that they want to use the platform to communicate with residents who have returned or moved to the town and those who are considering doing so. Since Tosa-cho has been selected as an SDGs future city, the town and we are currently studying to create a project that also incorporates the perspectives of promotion of SDGs.
Fuchu City, Tokyo, uses the platform as a tool to gather opinions from residents in the process of reviewing how public facilities should be, assuming the consolidation and elimination of old public facilities.
Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture, is considering using the platform as a system for dialogue with residents in the process of formulating a smart city (1) plan. Recently, metaverse and digital twin (2) have become topics of conversation, and we have heard that the city wants to collaborate with companies with these technologies.
We have received inquiries from many other local governments. Some say that they want to build consensus among residents for the Super City Initiative (*3). Furthermore, we have also heard that the government wants to use the platform as a tool to gather opinions from local residents overseas for whom Japan will provide domestic infrastructure as official development assistance (ODA).
―How much fees do you charge?
It depends on whether the municipality is going to make a private contract or an open request for proposal and what budget will be used for implementation. It also depends on the size of the municipality, but our pricing basically varies depending on whether it is a town/village, general city, core city, ordinance-designated city, or prefecture. However, there are other various conditions, such as the maximum amount of the private contract, so we give municipalities advice on our pricing.
―I wonder if some people, such as the elderly, can keep up with technology and take advantage of the platform for participation.
We also place great importance on the issue of the digital divide. Of course, we develop our software with ease of use in mind, but, in reality, there are still people who have difficulty adapting to technology.
Our proposition is not to replace everything with Liqlid. For example, if there are people who prefer conventional ways to make public comments or face-to-face discussions, we should leave these styles and use them with the platform. For those who feel that it is difficult to participate under the current system, we are now proposing that there is a new route.
For example, a local government can hold a resident information session, and then use Liqlid. We expect that our platform will be utilized in such a way.
―What are your prospects for the future?
Through the spread of Liqlid, we would like to eliminate common biases such as that the government does not listen to citizens. We would like to create a new public commons where citizens more actively participate in government.
*1. Smart city: A sustainable city that uses digital technology to optimize urban infrastructure, facilities, operations, and other aspects in order to resolve city and regional issues; a city that aims to improve convenience and comfort for residents and local businesses
*2. Digital twin: Technology that reproduces data collected from the real world on a computer. Based on a large amount of data, the technology enables simulation close to reality.
*3. Super City Initiative: An initiative that aims to resolve regional issues and revitalize local communities by utilizing AI and other technologies in areas related to daily life, such as healthcare, transportation, education, and administrative procedures
| Company name：Liquitous Inc. |
| Founded：February 2020 |
| Number of employees：10 (including Directors) |
| Main businesses：Software development, policy research, and policy planning URL：https://liquitous.com |
This article is part of a series of articles introducing venture companies working together as ICF members to resolve societal issues.