Summary of the project

As urbanization and the rise of nuclear families increase the burden of child-rearing on parents, Japan is also facing a rapidly declining birthrate. In response to these social challenges, the concept of socializing child-rearing－distributing the responsibility of raising children across society－has become increasingly important. The "Child Care Commons (CCC)" project focuses on building social capital that includes children and aims to develop new systems that enable trusted third parties － those without blood ties to the child－to participate meaningfully in child-rearing. Starting in fiscal 2025, the project expands upon the research and development framework of the previous year as CCC2.0, and by integrating insights from sociology, psychology, neuroscience, education, information science, medicine, and robotics, it designs and implements both environments and technologies that foster diverse social relationships for children. Through this work, the project seeks to create a sustainable child-rearing environment where all children can build rich and diverse social capital. Ultimately, it contributes to improving children's and society's well-being in an age of declining birthrates.

Milestone by the end of project (year 2024)

• We will develop guidelines that propose optimal ways for parents, children, and third parties to engage with one another.
• We will investigate the benefits of CCC2.0 from an interdisciplinary perspective.
• We will propose a technological platform and educational programs to support social capital.
• We will propose a new value creation framework that realizes socialized child-rearing through small-scale social experiments conducted in municipalities and companies.

R&D theme progress reports

• [1] Clarification of functional requirements and social acceptability of CCC
• [2] System Design of Child Care Commons
• [3] Fostering Social Acceptance of Child Care Commons
• Progress Report (634KB)

Performers

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• Summary of the project (280KB)