1.Report on“Tohoku University Earthquake Recovery Firm Survey”

Business conditions of the firms at the disaster‐affected regions are recovering steadily after the earthquake, especially for construction and real estate industries. However, wholesale and retail industries’ recovery seem to be slow. Financial conditions are quite good for all the industries and regions. Physical investment for reconstruction is proceeding steadily, but the rise of the costs of construction materials is impeding the recovery. Labor force shortage and a rise of labor costs are the major factors impeding the recovery. Labor shortage is getting more and more severe, showing no sign of slowing down.

2.Report by Tourism Industry Research Team

We would like to invite people from all over the world to show how we survived from the many difficulties, the beauty and the strength of nature in Tohoku and our new life in the post-quake through local tourism. Tourism has the strong energy to connect people and create the new activities.

3.Report by Smart City Research Team

Close study on our research cases showed that introducing Smart Community to rural areas in Tohoku is not likely to increase local jobs and population. The critical issue of restoring communities in the Tohoku region, in our opinion, is not the lack of support. It is not the support that is wanting. Rather, it is the courage to face the crude future forecast on population and public finance; it is the will to make a plan to reconstruct the community in much smaller scale.

4.Report on Innovation Case Research Project

There are many hidden innovative companies in Tohoku area. Tohoku is not a “barren area for entrepreneurs”. It is our continuous tasks to uncover firms with high potentials, introduce to public, and encourage entrepreneurship in Tohoku area.

5.Report on Human Resource Development in Regional Innovation Producer School

The Regional Innovation Producer School (RIPS) provides training programs to develop the innovation producers, to help the students make business plans and to support the realization of business plans. Through developing human resources, RIPS aims to contribute to the recovery from the disaster, leading the innovation and creating new businesses in the Tohoku region.

6.Message from Regional Industries Restoration Support Project

The Tohoku Region, which has been driven by the temporary reconstruction boom, will inescapably face the big reaction in the near future.

The structural decline of the regional economy before the earthquake disaster will accelerate immediately.

Through this project, We contribute to the renewal of regional economy by continuing support for business innovation.