Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium Summarizes First Two Years of Activities with "Presentation for Second Phase of Activities"

The "Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium," managed by Firstlight Capital Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Shu Iwasawa; hereinafter referred to as "Firstlight"), held its "Presentation for Second Phase of Activities" on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, to summarize its first phase of activities (July 2024 - July 2026).

◾️ Overview of Implementation

The "Presentation" held this time was conducted as an opportunity to review the current status of the objectives and goals set in the first phase with all regular members, and to share the direction of activity development for the second phase.

In the first part, Shu Iwasawa, Representative Director and Managing Partner of Firstlight Capital Co., Ltd., presented a summary of the first phase of activities and the direction of activities for the second phase. Following this, executives from regional financial institutions, who are regular members of the first phase, took the stage to share the results and challenges of DX promotion in their respective regions and their expectations for the second phase.

In the second part, Kazuhito Suzuki, Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy and Director of the Institute for Geoeconomics at the University of Tokyo, was invited to give a keynote lecture and panel discussion on the theme of "Economic Security and Regional Industry," deepening the discussion on the sustainable growth of regional economies and the role of regional financial institutions in a declining population society from a geoeconomic perspective.

Kazuhito Suzuki, Professor at the Graduate School of Public Policy and Director of the Institute for Geoeconomics at the University of Tokyo

◾️ Publication of "Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium: Presentation Document for the Second Phase of Activities"

In conjunction with this presentation, the "Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium: Presentation Document for the Second Phase of Activities," which summarizes the achievements and challenges of the first phase of activities and the direction of the second phase, was published.

This document summarizes the achievements of the first phase of activities, organizes the actual status of regional DX support and common challenges shared by nine regional financial institutions, and proposes three directions for activity development in the second phase: "Expansion to DX/AI solutions that achieve strengthening of supply capacity," "Strengthening of contact points with regional companies," and "Expansion of wide-area collaboration regions."

The presentation document can be downloaded from the URL below.

Download here

The Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium is preparing for its second phase, which will begin in 2027, and will continue its activities to promote the social implementation of regional DX and the sustainable development of regional industries by further deepening collaboration with regional financial institutions, regional companies, and startups that solve regional issues.

What is the "Regional Issue Resolution DX Consortium"?

This consortium is Japan's first wide-area collaboration platform that brings together regional financial institutions and venture capitals (VCs) to consolidate information on "regional industrial issues due to population decline" and "startups that achieve productivity improvement in key industries."

By resolving the "fragmentation of information" that has been difficult to solve by individual financial institutions or local governments in the past, and by integrating knowledge on a wide-area basis, it has built a system to quickly deliver effective DX solutions to regional communities.

With the "deep trust and customer base" held by regional financial institutions and the "knowledge of startup support" held by VCs, this dual approach aims to redefine Japan's key industries with the power of technology and realize a sustainable regional economy.

Consortium Structure (in Japanese syllabary order, titles omitted)

Regular Members: The Bank of Kagoshima Ltd., The Saga Bank Ltd., The San-in Godo Bank Ltd., The Shikoku Bank Ltd., Shizuoka Bank Ltd., The Joyo Bank Ltd., The Chugoku Bank Ltd., The Fukuoka Bank Ltd., The Yamaguchi Bank Ltd.

Secretariat: Firstlight Capital Co., Ltd.

Advisors: Kasei Furuya, Next SaaS Media Primary (Craftdata Inc.)