Business Ecosystem Strategy Using New Hydroponic Culture Method

The current, important global issues include "global warming," "population increase," and "food shortage." Japan, however, experiences problems such as "declining birthrate and aging," "declining agricultural workers," and "increasing abandoned cultivation land." In this study, we developed a new "EZ hydroponic culture method" to solve these problems. In this unique flooded agriculture system, many permeable pots with one seedling, together with fertilizer and culture medium, are mounted on a foamed polystyrene plate and floated on the surface of the water. Its characteristics are high profitability, low initial investment amount, low labor load, and low environmental load. However, this new hydroponic cultivation method differs considerably from traditional agricultural systems in terms of not only technical aspects but also management. It becomes even more prominent by collecting big data using internet of things (IoT) technology and drones as well as artificial intelligence (AI). Therefore, the construction of a new business ecosystem strategy becomes increasingly important. In this research, we proposed the "EZ hydroponic cultivation business ecosystem strategy" using the "Five Frameworks for Constructing Keystone Strategy" proposed by PICMET 2018. Furthermore, its effectiveness was confirmed based on three key performance indicators (productivity, robustness, and niche creation).