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▼ Next Keidanren Chair: Promote ‘Society 5.0’ to Solve Challenges
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Hiroaki Nakanishi, incoming chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), said, “The future of the world will be greatly changed by digital information,” in a speech at a forum held by the Yomiuri International Economic Society at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Thursday. Nakanishi placed emphasis on promoting the government’s initiative of “Society 5.0,” or the fifth chapter of human history.
Nakanishi, who is also chairman of Hitachi, Ltd., will assume the top position in the nation’s largest business lobbying group on May 31.
He also said, “We will collect a huge amount of data through digital technology and make use of knowledge [that we learn from the data] to solve social problems.”
The initiative was incorporated into the fifth science and technology basic plan compiled by the government in January 2016, and was one of the main pillars of its investment strategy last year. “Society 5.0” describes what is regarded as one of the most significant social changes, following the first with hunting and gathering, the second with agriculture, the third with industrialization and the fourth with information.
The government has positioned the fifth as “a super-smart society,” aimed at realizing an affluent society by utilizing the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robots and big data, which includes vast amounts of digital information.
Nakanishi insisted at the forum that Society 5.0 would have an important effect on economic growth in Japan. He pointed out that Japan is an advanced nation facing many serious social challenges, such as a decline in the working population and environmental and energy problems. “It is important to devise a better solution and a new direction based on the power of digital technology,” he said.
He also said, “We can build businesses that will create new value,” referring to needs that can be identified by analyzing and utilizing a vast amount of information, such as on customer trends. Nakanishi also called for the sharing of data through cooperation among industry, academia and government.
As concrete measures, he pointed out that the central and local governments, as well as companies, are working to create a framework for utilizing data. There have been discussions of such issues as extending people’s healthy life expectancy and continuing the maintenance and management of infrastructure.
Nakanishi, who is also chairman of Hitachi, Ltd., will assume the top position in the nation’s largest business lobbying group on May 31.
He also said, “We will collect a huge amount of data through digital technology and make use of knowledge [that we learn from the data] to solve social problems.”
The initiative was incorporated into the fifth science and technology basic plan compiled by the government in January 2016, and was one of the main pillars of its investment strategy last year. “Society 5.0” describes what is regarded as one of the most significant social changes, following the first with hunting and gathering, the second with agriculture, the third with industrialization and the fourth with information.
The government has positioned the fifth as “a super-smart society,” aimed at realizing an affluent society by utilizing the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robots and big data, which includes vast amounts of digital information.
Nakanishi insisted at the forum that Society 5.0 would have an important effect on economic growth in Japan. He pointed out that Japan is an advanced nation facing many serious social challenges, such as a decline in the working population and environmental and energy problems. “It is important to devise a better solution and a new direction based on the power of digital technology,” he said.
He also said, “We can build businesses that will create new value,” referring to needs that can be identified by analyzing and utilizing a vast amount of information, such as on customer trends. Nakanishi also called for the sharing of data through cooperation among industry, academia and government.
As concrete measures, he pointed out that the central and local governments, as well as companies, are working to create a framework for utilizing data. There have been discussions of such issues as extending people’s healthy life expectancy and continuing the maintenance and management of infrastructure.
- May 26, 2018
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