Abstract
In 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake attacked mainly Tohoku district, in particular, Sanriku area in Iwate Prefecture. It killed a lot of people and also, many companies in Tohoku district received severe economic damages. After the big and shattering disaster, many big corporations and non-prohibited organizations came here and tried projects to recover this area economically. However, the local economy has not entirely recovered in Tohoku district. Unfortunately, the population in Sanriku area is decreasing, and the economic situation is still severe. Generation of regional-branded products is required to predict out-migration and recover the regional economy. In this paper, the authors show trials to develop a new regional-brand product and create new industries. To realize this, we had a long-term research collaboration with two universities and set up research projects on Engineering and Designing. We have developed a new product "wooden smartphone case based on the concept of Universal Design." This product was manufactured by using a novel technologies developed by research collaboration and local materials. The research outcome in this paper would be applicable for not only research collaboration in disaster area but also other regional cities and the less-populated regions.
