Conversion of the Use Policy of IT

 According to the WEF (World Economic Forum), Japan leads the world in terms of consumer sophistication. That is Japan’s strength. According to a report by Cisco, Japan is number 1 in terms of the amount of data per mobile user, at five times the global average. The country produces information largely targeted at the younger generation. In Japan we should concentrate on policies that help with user literacy.

 There are three issues to address: Low public use of IT, ignorance of IT at the management level, and IT ignorance at the societal level.

Regarding IT use, when compared to Singapore in terms of online sales, shipping and logistics things are fairly equal. However, in terms of education, administrative services, and business management a large difference can be seen. According to a white paper on telecommunications that ranked interaction with public officials using the internet in 18 countries, Japan placed last. To make matters worse, according to studies by McKinsey, the amount of data accumulated in Japan over the last 10 years is 1/9^th that of what was accumulated in North America. Even if the amount of individual data use is high, the use is not evenly distributed throughout society. That is why we can’t capitalize on big data. Young users are advanced, but at a societal level the lack of awareness is a large problem. When I entered government 30 years ago, in the middle of communications privatization, it was during a new media boom. There were new stories about the telecommunications industry on a daily basis. Since then, IT policy concerning communication network maintenance, terrestrial digital development, and maintenance of a competitive environment were central issues. Most of those have been achieved.

  If you read a newspaper these days, news like that doesn’t stand out. If you read a weekly IT column then you’ll only find stories about using IT in education, content copyright problems, net elections, drug sales on the internet, and net sales.

  This isn’t a problem with IT provison; it’s a problem with IT use. Abundant preparation doesn’t necessarily mean abundant use. The important point has shifted to this: How to get governments and hospitals and schools to use new media effectively. Let all students learn in a digital environment. Let products be purchased safely over the internet and on mobile devices. In other words, policy must shift from one of presentation to one of use.

  It’s a shift of viewpoint from what to do “with” Information Technology to what to do “USING” Information Technology culturally and financially. From a standpoint of industrial policy, the question shouldn’t be what to do with the 85 trillion yen IT industry; it should be how to use the IT  to improve the 470 trillion GDP of the nation.

  In response to this, the current government has raised a banner and called for regulatory and institutional reform, open data, and a policy of one machine per person in education and human resource development.

  As cabinet secretary of the Intellectual Property Division in the government, my menu consists of 1) facilitating the use of cloud services in new industries, 2) promoting the use of big data in business, 3) archiving national cultural assets, and 4) promoting the use of IT in education. This is how we are putting intellectual property to use over the internet at the center of our policies.

 The problem is, this hasn’t become reality yet. Policies don’t become policies until the government puts them into action, so these are still just ideas. My push for policies regarding open data and digital textbooks are still mid-way.

  Speaking of use policies, I’d like to see the expansion of online elections, computerization of medical information, the restoration of social games… the menu is endless. What’s needed now is a prioritization of IT policy, particularly in increasing awareness of the importance of IT.