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On February 10, 2011, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) submitted an inquiry to the Information and Communications Council (Chairman: Takuma Otoshi, Chairman of IBM Japan) concerning “Information and Communications Policy for Implementation of Knowledge Information Society.” The reasons for this inquiry are as follows.
1. Reason for inquiry
Frequencies that are currently used in the ICT (Informacotion and Communications Technology) field for analog broadcasting are being put to practical use for progressive maintenance of new communications/broadcasting networks, with measures such as the elimination of no-broadband regions (forecast for March 2011) and the complete migration to terrestrial digital broadcasting (July 2011), together with the completion of “perfect digitalization” for communications/broadcasting networks. In addition, thanks to the sequential execution of the “Law for Partial Revision of the Broadcast Act, etc.,” which came into existence in November 2010, it is anticipated that cooperation between and merging of communications and broadcasting will now begin in earnest.
It is through factors such as these that ICT is significantly changing the shape of society. New technologies and innovations are being produced one after the other, while new business models that apply these are constantly appearing and accelerating change in the market environment, together with which there is also expectation of great potential in terms of the practical use of ICT for social infrastructure and official constituents. Furthermore, the Internet is enabling countless numbers of people to ordinarily enjoy a share of various knowledge and information distributed online, with progress seen in the resolution of regional problems through “cooperation” by means of the application and accumulation of this knowledge/information, as well as the creation of new wisdom and culture. Moreover, the distribution of such knowledge and information is accelerating beyond national borders, resulting in rapid progress for the globalization of economic activity and the ICT industry.
In this way, the exchange of knowledge information in all socio-economic settings is active through communications/broadcasting networks that have been converted to broadband/digital, and the construction of a “knowledge information society” producing new value through distribution, sharing, application and accumulation is progressing on a global scale. Now more than ever before, citizens of Japan want to be able to feel actual improvement in life and society and see initiatives taken by user standards aimed at resolving problems such as Japan's low birth rate and aging society through the beneficial use of ICT.
In light of these trends, there is a need for the consideration of directions to be taken in the Government's main information and communication policy initiatives, and based on the above an inquiry has been submitted to the Information and Communications Council concerning the state of information and communications policy aimed towards the realization of a “knowledge information society” by approximately the year 2020.
2. Items concerning which reports are hoped for
- (1) Vision of the future of structural change in the ICT market
- (2) Direction of main information and communications policy initiatives to be taken
(Specific items)
- New business creation strategy
- Research and development strategy
- International strategy
- Standardization strategy
- Regional vitalization strategy
- (3) Other items deemed as necessary
3. Deadline for reports
Around July 2012 (first report around July 2011)
4. Deliberation system
This inquiry was submitted at the Information and Communications Council Policy Section Meeting held on February 10, 2011, and deliberation was decided on at the same meeting.
Deliberation commenced at this meeting, and it was decided that in order to investigate and study this matter two new committees would be established under the supervision of the Section Meeting: the “New Business Creation Strategy Committee” (Chief Examiner: Ikufumi Niimi, Professor at Meiji University Law Department) and the “Research and Development Strategy Committee” (Chief Examiner: Hiroshi Yasuda, Professor at Tokyo Denki University/Next Term President of The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers).
Please note that members of the aforementioned committees are listed in the enclosed documents.
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For further information about this press release, please fill in the inquiry form and submit it to MIC on the website
http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/contact.html
International Policy Division,
Global ICT Strategy Bureau, MIC
TEL: +81 3 5253 5374 / FAX: +81 3 5253 5924 |
