ALPICO HOLDINGS, Seino Last One Mile, Aeronext, NEXT DELIVERY enter business partnership; New Smart Logistics to expand throughout Nagano Prefecture to address regional issues and revitalize the local economy.

ALPICO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd. (Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture; President and Representative Director: Yuichi Sato; hereinafter ALPICO HOLDINGS), SEINO.LAST.ONE.MILE Co.,Ltd. (Chuo-ku, Tokyo; President: Shuji Kawai; hereinafter “Seino Last One Mile”), Aeronext Inc. (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Keisuke Toji, hereinafter “Aeronext”), and NEXT DELIVERY Inc. (Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture; Representative Director: Keisuke Toji; hereinafter “NEXT DELIVERY”) entered into a business partnership agreement on January 31, 2025 to expand a new smart logistics system to all of Nagano prefecture and to address regional issues, as well as revitalize the local economy through the introduction of a new smart logistics system.

The ALPICO GROUP is engaged in a wide range of businesses centered on Nagano Prefecture, including transportation, tourism, and distribution. In September 2023, the ALPICO GROUP launched a new drone business, creating synergies with its existing businesses to help address regional issues and build a prosperous local community.

Aeronext and SEINO.LAST.ONE.MILE’s parent company, Seino Holdings Co., Ltd. (hereafter Seino HD), are deploying SkyHub^®*2, a new smart logistics^*1 system that combines drone transport with land-based delivery using trucks and light vans, and streamlines logistics based on a unique transport and delivery management system, at nine locations nationwide, including Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture, and Kamishihoro Town, Hokkaido.

Given Aeronext’s experience of being the first in Japan to use drones to transport medical supplies to isolated villages and evacuation shelters in the wake of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January 2024, Aeronext and NEXT DELIVERY are in ongoing discussions with the government and local authorities about the necessity of building a phase-free integrated solution that utilizes drones in both emergency and non-emergency times, and how the new SkyHub^® smart logistics system can provide the foundation for that solution.

In September 2023, the ALPICO GROUP and NEXT DELIVERY conducted a demonstration experiment for drone delivery in collaboration with an online supermarket, with the aim of establishing a new food and daily goods delivery service in the villa area of the Tateshina district of Chino City.

Through mutual collaboration and cooperation, the four parties will work to strengthen the regional logistics network in Nagano Prefecture during non-emergency times, such as in response to the 2024 problem, and to build a phase-free regional logistics infrastructure that will enable the rapid transport of goods to disaster areas in the event of an emergency, thereby improving the lives of prefectural residents and the regional economic infrastructure.

＜Agreement Outline＞

1. Date: January 31, 2025
2. Agreement Purpose and Content

• Introduction and implementation of new smart logistics throughout Nagano Prefecture
• Development of bases and systems for new smart logistics (including shopping support, shared delivery, and drone delivery) throughout Nagano Prefecture
• Establishment and Operation of SkyHub^® Emergency Package^*3

3. Roles

(1) All Parties

・Relationship building with Nagano Prefectural Government and local governments within Nagano Prefecture

(2) ALPICO HOLDINGS Roles

・Implementation of new smart logistics using SkyHub^®︎ TMS^*4, including shopping support for the whole of Nagano Prefecture and measures to address the problem of people who have no access to evening meals
・Creating bases for shared delivery leveraging the group’s assets, providing infrastructure, and providing relief supplies for disaster prevention purposes
・Development of new services for the new smart logistics that leverage the group’s assets

(3) Seino Last One Mile Roles

・Coordination of logistics companies throughout Nagano Prefecture, consolidation of cargo
・Creating a system for shared delivery throughout Nagano Prefecture
・Establishment of SkyHub^® Emergency Package

(4) Aeronext and NEXT DELIVERY Roles

・Establishment of drone systems operation (including the provision of logistics-dedicated drones)
・Provision of operational know-how for the new smart logistics system that is being rolled out nationwide
・Provision of SkyHub^® Provider License^*5 to ALPICO HOLDINGS

At the signing ceremony for the agreement held on January 31, the representatives from the 4 parties made the following comments.

<Comments from Yuichi Sato, President and Representative Director, ALPICO HOLDINGS>
The ALPICO GROUP has been providing services rooted in the local community for many years. Adding to those services, we opened the ALPICO Drone Academy last year and have also entered the drone business. Seino Last One Mile and Aeronext are companies that lead the drone industry with advanced technology and know-how related to drones. Through this partnership, we believe we can create new value and make further contributions to the local community and our customers.

<Comments from Shuji Kawai, President, Seino Last One Mile>
Going forward, the demands and expectations for the last mile segment are expected to become even greater and more diverse. We will continue to take on new challenges in the last mile domain as we work together as a team to solve social issues while strengthening our partnerships with customers and various partners and building the infrastructure of the future.

<Comments from Keisuke Toji, CEO, Aeronext / Representative Director, NEXT DELIVERY>
We are very happy and encouraged to be able to team up with the ALPICO GROUP as a partner in the development of a new smart logistics system throughout Nagano Prefecture. We look forward to integrating the regional resources of Nagano Prefecture with the various assets and networks of the ALPICO GROUP and our own experience, systems and services, and work hard to make a contribution to activities aimed at making the regional living infrastructure throughout Nagano Prefecture sustainable.

Reference

*1 New Smart Logistics
An initiative that aims to make logistics, which is an essential part of people’s lives, sustainable in the future by exploring solutions to issues common to the logistics industry, such as the shortage of labor, environmental and energy issues, and the need to respond to digital transformation, while making use of digital technology and other innovations. The initiative explores the efficiency of regional logistics and addresses regional issues and aims to consider and realize a best mix of shared delivery for the last mile, the balance between land transport by vehicle, and air transport by drone, phase-free logistics including disaster response, mixed cargo and passenger transport, and automation technology, and more. The initiative acts in accordance with regional conditions and needs, through co-creation on an open public platform (O.P.P.) that transcends the boundaries between the public and private sectors, and between industries.

*2  New Logistics SkyHub^®︎
A new smart logistics platform jointly developed and deployed by Aeronext and Seino HD that connects existing land transportation and drone logistics, as well as connecting ground and air infrastructure to deliver goods anytime, anywhere. An open and standardized platform with built-in drone delivery, operating from Drone Depots^®︎ and using cars and drones as delivery vehicles, and SkyHub^®︎ TMS as the base for SkyHub^®︎ Delivery (shopping service), SkyHub^®︎ Eats (food delivery), SkyHub^®︎ Medical (pharmaceutical delivery), as well as joint delivery of packages from different logistics companies in bulk, to develop and provide services tailored to local issues and needs.
The introduction of SkyHub^® not only has the logistics benefits of promoting unmanned and inventory-free operations and improving last mile delivery efficiency, but also introduces a new logistics infrastructure. Where the logistics industry facing the “2024 Logistics Problem,” SkyHub^® will contribute to solving social issues in the region, such as transportation problems in specific depopulated areas, medical problems, disaster countermeasures, and measures for the vulnerable in logistics, SkyHub^® will also contribute to address regional issues such as traffic problems in specific depopulated areas, medical problems, disaster countermeasures, and measures for the vulnerable in logistics, as well as raise the level of satisfaction of residents and communities by improving convenience and quality of life.

*3  SkyHub^® Emergency Package
A phase-free SkyHub^® that can achieve smooth emergency supply deliveries using logistics drones and more in disaster emergencies as well as non-emergency times.

*4  SkyHub^®︎ TMS
A transportation and delivery management system that serves as the basis for a new smart logistics system that will improve the efficiency of regional logistics.

*5  SkyHub^®︎ Provider License
SPL is a system that licenses to third parties a portions of the know-how, tools, and operations of the SkyHub^®︎ new smart logistics system.

【About ALPICO HOLDINGS Co., Ltd.】
The ALPICO GROUP is a conglomerate that operates primarily in Nagano Prefecture, and is involved in distribution (supermarkets), transportation (buses, railways, taxis), tourism (hotels, inns, travel), among other sectors. In January 2024, the group opened Alpico Drone Academy as a new business, and is working to address regional issues and contribute to a prosperous local community by creating synergies with existing businesses.
*For more information: https://visit-nagano.alpico.co.jp/

【About Aeronext Inc.】
Aeronext is a research and development technology startup that has a vision of “new economization of airspace,” Aeronext develops and patents industrial drone technologies and conducts licensing in order to create a world where the sky becomes societal infrastructure and economized, and social issues are resolved with drones. Our core technology is 4D GRAVITY^®︎, a unique structural design technology that improves basic drone performance such as stability, efficiency, and mobility of industrial drones by optimizing the center of gravity of the aircraft. In order implement this 4D GRAVITY^®︎ as standard equipment on industrial drones, we have constructed a strong patent portfolio and are promoting a partnership-based platform business for the 4D GRAVITY^®︎ license globally.
Aeronext has also founded NEXT DELIVERY, to enable new smart logistics SkyHub^®︎ utilizing drones and are proactively working on the societal implementation of drone delivery services and commercialization of those services.
*For more information: https://aeronext.com/about/company/

【About NEXT DELIVERY Inc.】
A strategic subsidiary of Aeronext, whose main business is drone delivery, established in Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture in 2021 based on the Aeronext Group’s mission, “A new societal infrastructure for the 100-year life era, a world where enrichment is spread to every corner of the world.” Aeronext and Seino HD jointly develop and deploy SkyHub®, a new smart logistics system that connects existing logistics and drone logistics to create a new societal infrastructure. We are also developing related businesses such as development, sales, operation, and maintenance of both hardware and software related to integrated delivery and drone delivery. Starting with Kosuge Village, Yamanashi Prefecture, we are working to improve the efficiency of regional logistics and address regional issues throughout Japan, including Kamishihoro Town, Hokkaido, and Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture.
*For more information: https://aeronext.com/about/company/

【About SEINO.LAST.ONE.MILE Co.,Ltd.】
SEINO.LAST.ONE.MILE Co., Ltd. was created in April 2024 as a subsidiary of Seino Holdings Co. The “last mile,” or the last point of contact for customers with logistics services, is expected to expand further in the future, and this is why we decided to establish a new company to respond flexibly to customer needs. The logistics issues in Japan today are wide-ranging, and specifically include the problems of vulnerable shoppers, depopulated areas, redelivery of packages, and the home delivery crisis. SEINO.LAST.ONE.MILE Co.,Ltd. is responsible for “last-one-mile solutions to social issues,” using business methods to approach these social issues.
For more information: https://slo.co.jp/company/

*Aeronext, the Aeronext logo, and NEXT DELIVERY, as well as “4D GRAVITY®︎” “SkyHub®“ are trademarks of Aeronext Inc.
*Other company names and product/service names mentioned in this press release are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.