About mymizuwas started because we wanted to do something about disposable plastic Inspired by this with a mission to create a world where sustainable living is the norm, not the exception we've created this free water refill platform If you open the phone app you can easily find out where you can get your water bottle refilled in the area We're working on eliminating the need for disposable plastic bottles There are now 200,000 of these free water refill spots registered around the world Some stores have also joined the program and anyone can bring their own water bottle, even if they are not a customer What type of service is it? Over 200,000 people have downloaded and used the app so far For shops, we have over 2,250 locations registered The number of users depends on the time of year In summer, it's important to stay hydrated and the number of users peaks at that time It's also the case that when winter comes, things settle down a bit The water they give you can be cold water or regular purified water but some places will give you hot water So even in winter, say if you prefer hot water, there is still a demand, even at times like that How mymizu uses data One of the first things you will actually see when you open the mymizu app is we show the number of bottles that everybody using the app has together saved I think that piece of data is really powerful because it makes people feel like, they can know that they are making a difference even with those... Each bottle by bottle which we let people track in the app I think it gives people hopefully a really positive emotion So you know for the first principle of the app we have these refill spots which are basically a set of coordinates so this could be a water fountain in a park and we also attach a photo and some text data in English and Japanese And then for the refill partners, with the businesses these can be cafes or hair salons then they can provide more types of water like hot water or cold water, filtered as well So thats the basic data that the mimyzu system contains And then the way the app works is we search that big database with many thousands of these refill spots and we find the nearest ones and show the user where to go find some water Opportunities created by data Refill spots and the number of refill partners that have joined us it's really important to be able to show them in numbers Also, for example the number of app users or people who attended one of our events and our social media followers this type of data is important to understand how much this movement is growing and how much demand there is for it When working with businesses is there really a demand for this kind of work? We need to ask ourselves this question And we're able to answer this and show the data, which I think is important How mymizu uses the cloud So the right from the get-go we were using the cloud for the API behind mymizu and the database So that meant we could quickly develop a system which can provide the refill spot information and management system And as we've scaled using the cloud we've been able to really easily provide that service to lots of people We've had more than 200,000 app downloads to date But obviously have a small team and limited resources Using the cloud means we can get the most bang for our buck And hopefully provide a reliable service as well And the benefits of the cloud also include things like security and being able to use the latest technology as well Environmental issues and innovation How to make use of technology is something I don't think many people have mastered Providing a different perspective I think is one of the roles of an engineer What is this technology for? What is this innovation for? These are really important questions It's not just about creating something new it's about who it's for If we can find someone who will help to solve these problems together as a team and if we can find that in an engineer we can make better use of our skills to benefit the world I think that type of partnership could be quite interesting and wonderful Technology and sustainability You know the first step to calculating a problem is really being aware of it and being able to see the truth of what the situation is and then from that point you can think about the next step of tackling it and then at that point, technology has there's lots of tools available so it's a bit difficult to talk specifically about where the technology would fit in but obviously you can apply data analysis machine learning you could create a web app or mobile app which can engage people hopefully And I think with mymizu we've been effective because it's engaged a lot of people from a very simple app in a very simple proposition, which is we drink water in a sustainable way less plastic people can really come into that and go off and hopefully change the world themselves I think with technology, the really powerful thing is that you can create an app which can be downloaded for free and reproduced for free For very little cost you can spread information and engage people really effectively The future of mymizu Refilling water is a very simple action and hydration is necessary for everyone To think about these stores or the consumption of plastic bottles does not happen very often so by starting with a simple idea and getting people to think about it can lead to awareness and lead people to have more conversations like this Increasing the number of people who are conscious about sustainability and doing something about it is a big goal of ours To make this happen we need to be creative in various ways Through open source platforms like ours we can create a system where anyone can contribute From individuals to engineers who want to contribute to the company we receive thousands of inquiries each year from these people We also get people who want to help spread the awareness of mymizu It's been built by each and every one of us That's the mymizu platform and movement We will continue to demonstrate the power of each individual and in order to create a world where sustainable living is the norm this is what we need to focus on in the future Not just in Japan, but from cities around the world we have people who want to spread the word in their city or in their country So not just in Japan but to spread it across the globe That's what we want to aim for in the future As data increases, so does the energy needed to manage it and its subsequent carbon footprint NetApp is committed to working with customers and communities to reduce its impact