Awards Ceremony for the 10th NTT Group Sustainability Conference
-Toward Innovating a Sustainable Future for People and Planet-

1. Overview of the 10^th NTT Group Sustainability Conference Awards Ceremony

Date: Monday, June 12, 2023
　Candidate: NTT Group companies (Domestic: 6, Overseas: 6)
　Contents: Announcement and commendation of award projects
　Awards were given to 6 projects selected from 113 projects.

2. About the best award

The best practices of NTT Group companies contribute to people's prosperous lives with new ideas and the realization of a sustainable global society. In addition, while being closely connected to the local community, it has strong elements of solving social issues as its own business, making it a challenge to balance business and sustainability.

< Global Category >

（1）NTT DATA Business Solutions (Germany)
Building a supply chain for medical supplies using drones: The challenge of saving lives and creating jobs in Malawi

NTT DATA Business Solutions, in conjunction with Wingcopter's high performance delivery drone technology, will contribute to solving the medical supply chain problem in Malawi(Eastern Africa). In Malawi, it took a full day or more to transport medical supplies from medical centers to rural clinics due to poor road infrastructure and frequent flooding. In this initiative, the strong delivery capabilities of Wingcopters were extended through a new digital logistics platform provided by SAP S/4 cloud, enabling local procurement of more than 100 types of medical supplies by delivery drone in just minutes. This allows for quick responses in emergencies, such as delivering a life-saving breathing tube for a newborn which was struggling to breath. Wingcopter's drone-based delivery networks also create new hightech job opportunities by training local youth to become Wingcopter drone pilots and technicians, helping to solve social issues in two dimensions: saving and improving lives. As a future prospect NTT DATA and Wingcopter will further solve social issues and contribute to a sustainable society by developing like the ones in Malawi were normal transportation is challenging however drones create new logistical highway in the sky: https://youtu.be/0kjsEOaBLPc

Figure 1. Procurement of medical supplies with Drone (Wingcopter)

（2） NTT Nihilent (India), NTT Innovation Laboratory Israel (Israel)
Realization of a pharmaceuticals procurement system without excess or deficiency through an optimal inventory forecasting model
- Building management solutions to protect people and the environment by curbing the disposal of unused pharmaceuticals -

Disposal of pharmaceuticals that have reached their expiration dates not only results in wasted medicines, but also poses a risk of causing serious environmental issues, making proper management and use of medicines an important issue. NTT Nihilent and NTT Innovation Laboratory Israel collaborated with Schneider Children's Hospital, Pharmacy Services, and others to provide an algorithm developed by NTT to derive the use of pharmaceuticals over a period of time from the quantity purchased and quantity discarded. This has enabled optimal pharmaceutical inventory forecasting and a system that can reduce environmental pollution and past inventory losses (savings of up to US $38,354 per year) due to the disposal of expired pharmaceuticals. In the future, we will aim to put this initiative into full-scale service operation, and to apply it to the entire hospital system, neighboring hospitals, and the entire health care system in Israel and abroad: https://youtu.be/xb2YZagBXkk

(3)NTT Ltd (Belgium)
Using AI to Improve Recycle Park Convenience (UX)
Achieving Smart Cycle Solutions through Real-Time Detection of Container Filling Rates

NTT Ltd (Belgium) has optimized the replacement of containers for recycle by combining a camera developed in collaboration with Cisco and NTT's AI technology for container detection and monitoring. The AI equipped in the camera reads the amount of garbage in real time and analyzes it together with historical data, making it possible to predict the optimal timing of container replacement. By solving the problem of collection containers being full, NTT Ltd contributed to reducing the stress on the people of the city, as well as reducing illegal dumping. This solution has already attracted interest in various industries, including the food industry, and will be applied to other areas and industries in the future, with the aim of improving resource allocation, improving operational efficiency, and reducing environmental impact: https://youtu.be/d5-wmpi8oeE

Figure 2: Proper container collection with monitoring AI technology

< Domestic Category >

(4)NTT EAST - South Kanto
Realization of sustainable support through fishery DX and freshness visualization
- Development of the "ISUMI model" by community-based fishery DX -

In Isumi City, Chiba Prefecture, NTT EAST - South Kanto has established the "ISUMI Model"², which combines 1) a scheme for collaboration among industry, government, academia, private sector and financial institute, 2) a scheme for the realization of local and social issues, and 3) a scheme for human resource development by a "regional trading company" that uses ICT to solve issues. Specifically, we support efforts to increase the value of fish and DX fishing operations by reducing ice use through the use of unified containers for water temperature and volume, improving freshness and advancing bidding time through water temperature and salinity sensors, reducing lightweight work by measuring forklifts, and reducing tabulation work through a sales management system. In addition, by visualizing the freshness of food animals using technology developed by NTT EAST, utilizing Mirasal³, a device developed by Hokkaido University to visualize the freshness and best time to eat of food animals, we are building a framework that can reduce losses and realize highly profitable processing and sales (an estimate that gross margins of about 10% can be realized). In the future, the ISUMI Model will be implemented in society and rolled out nationwide with the aim of further contribution to solving local and social issues nationwide: https://youtu.be/9IAa10KXA5Q

Figure 3. DX fishing operations using IoT

(5) NTT WEST and Co-Designing Institute for Polyphonic Society
Achieving a carbon-neutral society through forestry DX
-Realizing a resource-recycling society-

Forests cover 2/3 of Japan's land area, and about 60% is privately owned forest of less than 10ha, about half of which is ripe for logging. Due to the recent shortage of bearers and issues related to wood supply security such as Wood Shock⁴, the healthy life cycle of forests, "cut, use, plant and raise" has been thrown into a negative spiral. As part of its Forestry DX initiative, NTT WEST is providing a Forest Cloud application that uses satellite and drone measurements as well as AI analysis to collect forest information such as the number of trees, types, and height, calculate and data the asset value of the forest and the amount of CO₂ absorbed, which can be viewed on smartphones and tablets. As a result, forest research operations will be reduced to 1/30 of the previous level, and timber supply and demand matching using the cloud will result in transactions at prices 2% higher than those in the general timber market (empirical results). In addition, carbon credit revenues, a new value added to forests, will be returned to affluent forest development, thereby contributing to the carbon neutrality of the region and companies (approximately 300 million yen worth of credits are expected to be generated⁵). By developing Forestry DX in Japan and overseas, we aim to create a resource-recycling society in which people, funds and technology return to the local community: https://youtu.be/1gj3n0lF9p0

Figure4: New DX model using forest clyde

(6)NTT DATA
A new form of energy self-sufficiency
- Green BPO Center utilizing on-site PPA⁶ to combine public and private sectors with local production for local consumption

NTT DATA is working to make Buildings 2 and 7 of the corporate cluster facilities used by the NTT DATA Group with permission from Okinawa Prefecture carbon neutral in Okinawa's largest IT corporate cluster area, Okinawa IT Shinryo Park. Through this initiative, we overcame the geographical constraints of Okinawa, where electricity supply from other regions is difficult to provide, and built a Green BPO center for local production and consumption in collaboration with the public and private sectors, thereby contributing to the realization of an insular energy society unique to Okinawa. As for the total electricity used in the two buildings, on-site PPA, which provides a high additional renewable energy source, was used by 30%, and non-fossil-certified green electricity (Uchina - CO₂-free menu), which uses only resources from Okinawa, such as woody biomass co-fired power generation and wind power generation, was used by 70%. In implementing the measures, the Facility Management Division, a group of more than 170 engineers with national qualifications in the fields of architecture, electricity and the environment, led the overall effort. Based on the concept of "IT x Facility x Green," the Facility Management Division took advantage of its ability to consistently plan, design, build, and operate buildings in collaboration with IT systems and operations, thereby achieving significant energy procurement and GHG (greenhouse gas) reduction. This initiative is an effort to promote the adoption of renewable energy by sticking to "energy generation" with a focus on climate change/Carbon Neutrality. Under the slogan "Realizing a Sustainable Future," we will continue to pursue green innovation that leads to growth and value provided by our customers:https://youtu.be/e2PTgvVNHFE

Figure 5: Use of resources from Okinawa (Uchina - CO2 free menu)

3．Future Initiatives

In order to realize a sustainable society, we will strive to realize a paraconsistent society based on the idea of "Innovating a Sustainable Future for People and Planet" by promoting the IOWN concept, which is based on NTT's high ethical standards and cutting-edge technology and innovation, as well as achieving "growth as a company" and "solving social issues" by addressing social issues.

¹NTT Group Medium-Term Management Strategy "New value creation & Sustainability 2027 powered by IOWN" https://group.ntt/jp/ir/mgt/managementstrategy/

²Public-Private Partnerships for Regional Revitalization in Isumi City
https://www.ntt-east.co.jp/chiba/news/detail/20190527.html

³Hokkaido University "Mirasal" https://seeds.mcip.hokudai.ac.jp/jp/view/388/

⁴Timber supply and demand for housing construction is tight, causing price hikes and delivery delays.

⁵Target forest: Approximately 180ha, 16 year project

⁶It stands for Power Purchase Agreement. A scheme in which electricity generated by a solar power system installed by a company that owns and manages a solar power facility on a site, roof or other space provided by the facility owner is paid to the facility's electricity users. This initiative utilizes PV-TPO services provided by Okinawa New Energy Development Co., Ltd.

⁷NTT's vision of a sustainable society: Self as We https://group.ntt/jp/csr/selfaswe/