SOLVING SOCIAL PROBLEMS THROUGH OUR BUSINESS

The INTAGE Group uses data to support customers' businesses, solve social problems, and contribute to the creation of a better society and the healthy lives of consumers.

Sustainability priorities (important issues) helps us strengthen trusting relationships with stakeholders and meet the demands and expectations of society. We strive to grow a sustainable business and contribute to social development by enhancing our corporate value as well as social value.

The companies of the INTAGE Group operate businesses with research and data at their core, and we believe that continuously improving data handling skills is an important challenge. The cross-Group technology competition that has been run since FY2021 is designed to form a culture of indepth technological inquiry, foster the development of human resources with data analysis skills, and promote technological improvement and exchange across organizational boundaries. The endeavor aims to achieve Groupwide growth by having employees put their data analysis and programming skills to the test against one another.
In the second year of the competition in FY2022, the theme of "Automated Playing of Dobutsu Shogi ("animal chess") * " was adopted, and a total of 12 contestants from various Group companies used programming languages such as Python to develop programs based on their own approaches and have the programs play games of Dobutsu Shogi. In the future, we will scale up the competition as an opportunity Metaversefor the development of human resources and technological exchange, and expect this to spread the culture of in-depth technological inquiry across the Group.

* A simplified version of Shogi (Japanese chess) rules that uses five types of pieces with animal designs and a 3x4 playing board. The game was invented to professional Shogi player Madoka Kitao.

INTAGE Healthcare Inc., which conducts pharmaceutical marketing research and other activities exclusively in the healthcare field, conducts research into patients suffering from a range of conditions. With online interviews on the rise in addition to in-person interviews, the latest development is roundtable discussions for cancer patients being held in the metaverse. We were able to verify the effectiveness of metaverse-based roundtable discussions as a new interviewing method for when participants have concerns, such as not wanting to reveal themselves to others, or having difficulty discussing private matters.
As participants are able to share their opinions and express their intentions through an avatar without showing their own face, the form has earned high satisfaction ratings from participants, eliciting feedback such as "an illness is a very private thing, and since I could use an avatar to speak, I was able to expose my feelings with peace of mind." Metaverse-based roundtable discussions are expected to be utilized in the future as an interview method with a view to their potential to produce more in-depth analysis and discussion.

The cultivation of data science talent who will support an advanced information society and the promotion of innovation through collaboration with educational institutions not only affect the Company but are challenges for all industries.
We promote collaboration between industry and academia in various ways utilizing our strength in handling data, including through the initiatives described below. In addition to contributing to solving the issues described earlier, these activities help raise the profile of the INTAGE Group and expand hiring opportunities for future talent. In the fiscal year ended June 2023, Groupwide we participated in industryacademia collaboration initiatives with 26 universities*.

* The number of universities that took part in initiatives with the Company during the fiscal year ended June 2023.