NTT, Waseda University, and Kumejima Town to Demonstrate a Circular "Water, Food, Energy, and Health" Model
-- NTT, Waseda University, and Kumejima Town Conclude a Comprehensive Partnership Agreement --

News Highlights:

TOKYO — April 7, 2026 — NTT, Inc. (Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Akira Shimada; hereinafter "NTT"), Kumejima Town (Mayor: Hideo Tobaru), and Waseda University (Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President: Aiji Tanaka) have agreed to provide mutual support and cooperation in areas including educational and research activities, with the aim of addressing social challenges in island regions and realizing a carbon-neutral society. Accordingly, the parties concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement on April 6, 2026.

Under this agreement, the parties will demonstrate the "BlueSphere Model*1," an integrated circular framework for water, food, energy, and health in island communities, and will initiate efforts to create a sustainable future island society that is self-sufficient in food and energy while achieving healthy longevity.

Photo 1: Signing Ceremony
(From left: Yuji Maeda, Head of NTT Space Environment and Energy Laboratories; Hideo Tobaru, Mayor of Kumejima Town; Haruko Takeyama, Associate Director of Waseda Center for a Carbon Neutral Society)

Background

In recent years, global challenges such as climate change, energy issues, and food security have become increasingly severe, underscoring the need to realize a sustainable society.

In response to these urgent challenges, efforts around the world are accelerating to seek fundamental solutions rather than merely maintaining the status quo or preventing further deterioration. Against this backdrop, NTT and Waseda University have been conducting vision-driven joint research since 2024. The parties will launch an initiative in Kumejima Town aimed at fostering a sustainable future society.

Challenges Facing Kumejima Town and Conclusion of the Comprehensive Partnership Agreement

Located approximately 100 km west of Okinawa Main Island, Kumejima Town is a remote island rich in natural resources and unique culture. The town has established a regional circular and symbiotic framework known as the "Kumejima Model," centered on its local resource of deep ocean water. This resource is utilized across a wide range of applications, including ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC*2), aquaculture, and agriculture.

While such initiatives leveraging local resources have progressed, Kumejima Town, like many other island communities, faces the following social challenges:

The population of Kumejima Town has declined significantly from a peak of 10,303 in 1990 to 6,972 as of October 2025. The tourism sector also faces challenges, including aging facilities, labor shortages, and seasonal fluctuations in visitor numbers. Island municipalities tend to experience structural challenges such as population decline and aging, climate change impacts, and high logistics costs more acutely than other regions.

In light of these issues, the parties believe that new initiatives are needed to carry forward and further develop the "Kumejima Model" that has been cultivated to date.

NTT, Kumejima Town, and Waseda University have therefore agreed to provide mutual support and cooperation in areas including food, energy, and health, as well as in educational and research activities, with the aim of addressing social challenges in island regions, and have concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement.

As a preliminary step in this initiative, the parties conducted an assessment of the current state of the Kumejima Model and identified community-level challenges. Based on these findings, a new social model has been developed. Moving forward, the parties will proceed with validation in real-world environments and aim to implement the model in stages.

Overview of the Initiative

The "BlueSphere Model" (Figure 2), a vision for a future society, will be introduced in Kumejima Town through this joint research initiative. The model aims to realize a sustainable island community in which culture and health are maintained through integrated cycles of water, food, and energy.

Figure 2: Conceptual Diagram of the BlueSphere Model

Figure 3: Demonstration Experiment at the Kumejima Industry Festival

As a specific example, initiatives will promote community revitalization through sports, contributing to both health and tourism. At the Kumejima Industry Festival in December 2025, preliminary surveys were conducted, including measurements of facial blood flow and skin moisture levels of residents (Figure 3). In the future, the initiative aims to provide feedback on how ultraviolet exposure affects different areas of the face and various indicators, contributing to improved skin and facial protection.

The realization of the BlueSphere Model will be further accelerated by digital twin technologies under the IOWN initiative promoted by NTT. By integrating diverse data obtained from field demonstrations in the areas of energy, food, and the environment, the parties will construct a "regional environmental digital twin" that reproduces the conditions of Kumejima Town in virtual space.

In addition, the parties will explore the use of compact data centers, including container-type data centers, and consider distributed data centers across remote islands connected via IOWN APN*5. These efforts will contribute to disaster recovery (DR)*6 measures utilizing island regions and to the realization of sustainable data centers. The initiative will also examine the use of ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) and deep ocean water for data center energy and cooling systems, while linking with food and energy self-sufficiency efforts to create new industries and validate business models.

Waseda University brings strengths not only in science and engineering fields such as nano-energy, quantum/ICT, and engineering, but also in the humanities and social sciences, including political science, economics, law, business administration, literature, and linguistics. It is expected to contribute to the social implementation of research outcomes through interdisciplinary collaboration. NTT is advancing research and development of next-generation communication infrastructure based on photonics and information processing technologies under the IOWN initiative.

By leveraging their respective strengths, NTT and Waseda University will collaborate with Kumejima Town to promote research aimed at achieving food and energy self-sufficiency across the entire island. Furthermore, they will work toward solving broader social challenges, including health and medical care, through interdisciplinary approaches that incorporate insights from economics, finance, and marketing to support real-world implementation.

Expected Outcomes

The initiative is expected to deliver the following outcomes:

In addition, this initiative goes beyond conventional research by promoting the integration of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries with tourism, education, IT, and big data, advancing a "seventh-sector industrialization" model. Through efforts such as building regional brands around traditional local products like soybeans, rice, and tea, creating new restaurant businesses, and developing local innovation talent, the initiative will contribute to the sustainable development of the community and help address labor shortages caused by population decline in Kumejima Town.

Roles of Each Party in the Comprehensive Partnership

Future Initiatives

Going forward, the parties will establish the effectiveness of the "BlueSphere Model" through demonstration projects in Kumejima Town while co-creating a community-based social system through ongoing dialogue with residents. In the future, they aim to disseminate the outcomes from Kumejima Town as a pioneering model for addressing common challenges faced by island communities worldwide.

This initiative will deepen collaboration among NTT, Waseda University, Kumejima Town, and other stakeholders, while also considering alignment with national-level programs. The goal is to achieve operational self-sufficiency within five years. Beyond demonstration experiments, the parties will establish sustainable business frameworks and create new employment opportunities, thereby contributing to regional revitalization.

Related Announcements

[Glossary]

^*1BlueSphere Model:
This name refers to a conceptual social model and is not a service name.

^*2Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC):
A form of renewable energy generation that converts the temperature difference between warm surface seawater heated by solar energy and cold deep seawater into electricity using a turbine generator.
http://otecokinawa.com/en/OTEC/index.html

^*3Energy Informatics Cell (EIC):
A concept for achieving energy self-sufficient cells (such as villages or districts) by controlling energy generation (renewables), consumption (loads), and storage (batteries) through communications technologies.

^*4IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network):
A next-generation communications infrastructure concept promoted by the IOWN Global Forum, a global organization advancing the development of IOWN technologies and use cases.
https://iowngf.org/

^*5 All-Photonics Network (APN):
A network architecture that introduces photonics-based technologies into everything from devices to networks and aims to realize extremely low power consumption, high speed, high capacity, and low latency transmission through wavelength networks that provide end-to-end optical wavelength paths.
■ What is the All-Photonics Network?
https://group.ntt/en/group/iown/function/apn.html

^*6Disaster Recovery (DR):
The restoration and recovery of systems, or the systems themselves, when continued operation becomes impossible due to disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis.

About NTT

NTT is a leading global technology innovator, providing a broad range of services to both consumers and businesses. As a mobile operator and provider of infrastructure, networks, and services, NTT is dedicated to promoting a sustainable future through cutting-edge innovations. Our portfolio includes business consulting, AI-powered solutions, application services, global networks, cybersecurity, data center and edge computing, all supported by our deep global industry expertise. Generating over $90 billion in revenue and employing 340,000 professionals, we allocate 30% of our annual profits to fundamental research and development. With operations spanning more than 70 countries and regions, our clients include over 75% of Fortune Global 100 companies, alongside thousands of enterprises, government organizations, and millions of consumers.