The IISE supported the NEC C&C Foundation seminar entitled ‘Expansion of Regional Information Base’ together with the Citizens’ Congress on Promotion of Information Society, Japan Productivity Center for Socio Economic Development and the New Institute for Social Knowledge and Collaboration of Tama University. The seminar was held at the International House of Japan, Lecture Hall attended by about 50 participants.

Following the opening speech by Mr. Hiroshi Gokan, Executive Director of the NEC C&C Foundation, Professor Toru Maekawa, Cyber University, gave the keynote speech entitled ‘Working Toward a Full-Participation Society with Information Technology – Early Institution of ‘JAPAN-ID’, the National Identification System’. Professor Maekawa is also Senior Principal of the Special Committee of the Citizens’ Congress on Promotion of Information Society, Japan Productivity Center for Socio Economic Development. His speech built on the suggestions forwarded by the Citizens’ Congress on Promotion of Information Society held in June, 2007, and called for the creation of a system which uses IT as a truly effective tool to give every Japanese citizen and every foreigner living in Japan a standardized identifier (Japan ID) in order to build a more equitable, fairer, and more efficient society. Professor Maekawa also urged the establishment of an agency called ‘Japan ID Security Center’ to ensure the safe operation of the national ID system.

The keynote speech was followed by the reports on the 2007 study projects commissioned by the NEC C&C Foundation, which presented case studies of both Japan and foreign countries. The report on Japanese case studies ‘Outlook on the New Regional Information System’ was presented by Mr. Akio Sugii, Research Team member of the Institute for Hypernetwork Society. Based on the case studies of leading regional administrations, such as Oita and Saga, Kyoto Prefectures, Mr. Sugii suggested that local e-government should be promoted from four points of view: the development of basic strategy and an organization for promotion; efficiency of operation and the establishment of IT governance; an increase in the use of electronic government services; and enhanced participation by and collaboration with citizens.

The report on foreign case studies ‘Electronic government using a resident database – Case studies of Austria, Estonia and Germany’ was presented jointly by Mr. Yusuke Koizumi, Research Analyst, and Ms. Erika Yoshida, researcher, of the Economic and Industry Research Group of NEC Planning Research, Ltd. The presenters introduced a data exchange method using numbers called “source PIN” which was adopted in Austria as a means of efficient database utilization with privacy protection. The presentation also included a one-stop public service system in Estonia using a means called “Estonia Card” and the progress of the database construction in Germany which has historical background similar to Japan.

Lastly, Chief Fellow Izumi Harada and Kazuko Yuma, research analyst, of the IISE made a presentation entitled ‘Expansion of Regional Information Base’. Using examples in Japan and overseas, they described the three points needed for the expansion of a regional information base: (1) Local e-government system for total optimality; (2) Increased convenience with “one-stop” services; and (3) Development of reliable and safe public system for personal identification. The presenters pointed out that, as sufficient technologies already exist, the development of a local e-government system needs the total optimality from organizational and social perspectives, and the importance of the nurturing of leadership as well as people with omniscience in the local administration. In addition, they emphasized that transparency was critical to stimulate residents’ sense of security, and such transparency might be ensured by maintaining access control by defining who has access to what, and maintaining access logs of municipal employees viewing the database, as well as allowing residents to view these logs relating to the data on them. Active implementation of personal identification using an electronic ID could increase the sense of safety and security of the clients of banks and mobile communication providers, whose business has certain aspects of public service. Drawing attention to the currently-debated issue of introducing social insurance cards, which was prompted by the public pension problem, the presenters concluded the seminar by suggesting that discussions are necessary to make use of the inhabitant registers as the basis for building a social insurance system which is easy to use and safe to entrust with personal information.

By curious coincidence, the Supreme Court of Japan ruled that the inhabitant register network was constitutional on the same day as the seminar, rejecting the claim that the network was unconstitutional. Having cleared the legal hurdle, this should be a new step forward in presenting opportunities to turn discussion on regional information base toward the perspective of how well to use such a system.

Speakers and program:
13:30  Opening speech by Hiroshi Gokan, Executive Director of the NEC C&C Foundation
13:35  Keynote speech “Working Toward a Full-Participation Society with Information Technology – Early Institution of ‘JAPAN-ID’, the National Identification System” by Toru Maekawa, Senior Principal, Special Committee of the Citizens’ Congress on Promotion of Information Society, Japan Productivity Center for Socio Economic Development, Professor of Cyber University
14:30  Presentation: Case studies in Japan “Outlook on the New Regional Information System”
Presenter: Akio Sugii, Research Team member of the Institute for Hypernetwork Society
15:25  Recess
15:45  Presentation: Case studies in foreign countries “Electronic Government using a Resident Database – Case Studies of Austria, Estonia and Germany” Presenters: Yusuke Koizumi, Research Analyst, of the Economic and Industry Research Group, NEC Planning Research, Ltd. Ms. Erika Yoshida, researcher, the Economic and Industry Research Group, NEC Planning Research, Ltd.
16:40  Proposition: “Fro the Expansion of Regional Information Base”
Presenters: Chief Fellow Izumi Harada, IISE, Kazuko Yuma, Chief Analyst, IISE
17:00  Closing