Addressing Regional Issues and Growing Together with Local Communities

MC strives to contribute to the development of economies and societies by addressing challenges faced by countries and regions, while fostering growth through collaboration with diverse stakeholders, regions, and communities.

MC believes it can create significant value by leveraging its unique collective capabilities and extensive connections across industries, while building strong relationships with diverse stakeholders and local communities. The company is committed to pursuing sustainable growth alongside local communities by resolving issues that communities are facing and by exploring related business opportunities.

MC promotes initiatives aimed at regional revitalization throughout the company. These include developing new carbon-neutral industries, supporting smooth transitions to decarbonized societies, and fostering vibrant communities.

In November 2022, MC opened domestic branches in Akita and Choshi, Japan. Guided by the themes of utilizing local energy resources such as renewable energy, creating new carbon-neutral industries, and revitalizing communities by addressing regional issues, MC aims to foster new industries and drive regional development. This approach includes collaborating with various stakeholders such as partners and local governments while leveraging MC’s extensive industrial network to address societal and industry challenges.

By 2023, MC signed partnership agreements with five cities: Yatsushiro in Kumamoto Prefecture, Kurashiki in Okayama Prefecture, Nasushiobara in Tochigi Prefecture, Choshi in Chiba Prefecture, and Chitose in Hokkaido Prefecture. These agreements aim to resolve regional issues and promote initiatives for regional development and revitalization. Specific areas of cooperation include revitalizing local and regional communities through digital technology and improvement civic services such as energy, mobility, and healthcare. In Nasushiobara and Chitose, MC introduced its Hometown Tax Program (Furusato Grant), enabling both cities to implement initiatives that encourage taxpayer donations to local municipalities.

The rapid expansion of the middle class and accelerated urbanization, particularly in emerging economies, has increased the need for social infrastructure projects that incorporate societal and environmental values.

In response to these changes, MC aims to contribute to the economic growth of the countries where it operates while reducing environmental impact. The company promotes the development and management of large-scale, high-value-added urban projects designed to sustainably create high-quality environments for living, working, healthcare, educational, logistics, and transportation.

MC is pursuing an urban management project and promoting a large-scale urban development initiative in collaboration with Sinarmas Land (SML), one of Indonesia’s largest real estate developers.

In March 2020, MC signed an MOU with SML to jointly implement urban management and introduce smart and digital solutions in BSD City, a 6,000 hectare development. This partnership aims to deploy urban services across BSD City, including an AI/IoT data platform, city portal, mobility solutions, and energy-related content, in collaboration with various operating companies and partners from different sectors.

Following the MOU, MC launched Indonesia’s first trial operation of autonomous electric vehicles (AEVs), along with a sharing service experiment designed to encourage a shift from “owning” to ”renting.” Additional initiatives include a mobile convenience store operations using electric vehicles, and exploration of a district cooling system for BSD City. These efforts reflect MC’s commitment to experimenting with and implementing city services that address social issues and promote urban sustainability.
At the same time, MC and SML are working on a large-scale development project in BSD City. This initiative represents Indonesia’s first transit-oriented development*, creating a smart city that integrates residential units, commercial properties, schools, hospitals, parks, and public transportation nodes on a new site of more than 100 hectares.

By promoting a modal shift toward public transportation, MC aims to contribute to economic growth while addressing societal and environmental challenges such as traffic congestion and air pollution. Another goal is to create safe, convenient, and secure urban environments through the implementation of advanced urban services, including AI/IoT platforms, city portals, mobility solutions, and energy systems.