This is a sponsored story, created and edited exclusively by Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s Tokyo Updates website.

In Marunouchi, one of Tokyo’s central business districts, a new model of digital work infrastructure is testing how people who face barriers to employment can contribute to real business needs, and to the city’s wider economy.

For Takanari Ono, CEO of Valt Japan Co., Ltd. , the question of work began in the pharmaceutical industry. Before founding the company in 2014, Ono worked at a pharmaceutical company, where he believed medicine could improve people’s lives by stabilizing symptoms and supporting health. Then, at a patient advocacy group meeting, he heard something that changed his perspective.

Around 30 people with mental health and developmental conditions were sharing their experiences. Many said medication had helped them manage their symptoms. Yet one problem remained common to all of them: they still could not find stable employment. “That was a shock to me,” Ono says.…