April 2021 to March 2022

Motoyuki Matsunaga(Senior Fellow, Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies)

   The coronavirus pandemic has precipitated a global shift to digital transformation aimed at delivering a next-generation society, but at the same time, questions are being raised as to whether the digital capabilities needed to for such a society actually exist. Digital transformation is a concept that became widespread in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse that triggered a global financial crisis, and like “new normal”, the term is now in widespread use. 

   As a result of this financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, there have been growing calls for a green transformation, and the shift to green and digital solutions is setting in motion a paradigm shift towards the society of the future. 

   Although the shift to digital has been spurred by the two crises of economic breakdown and the global pandemic, at its root it seeks to address the climate crisis that demands a transformation in the nature of the global economy. Unless immediate action is taken, environmental issues will rapidly turn into social problems. 

   The transition to a decarbonized society is therefore an urgent matter. Around the world, people are starting to realize that unless we set our sights on even stricter greenhouse gas reduction targets, we will find ourselves in a situation where the climate crisis is in full swing and there is no turning back. The necessary greenhouse gas reductions cannot be achieved by conventional means alone, and it is now necessary for everyone to face up to the challenge. Businesses must adapt their infrastructure to make it suitable for a decarbonized society, and governments must come up with more concrete policies. 

   In this study, while keeping thought leadership in mind, we first looked at the general trends towards decarbonization, and we considered the societal changes associated with decarbonization, including the divestment that drives international financial institutions and the activation of grassroots movements. We also examined the decarbonization scenarios and policy packages in Europe, which is leading the way in green recovery. 

   In addition, while grasping the changing nature of NEC’s business, which is said to be the epitome of Japan’s information industry, we analyze the structure of next-generation digital technology businesses and solution businesses in order to create policy proposals. The greatest feature of the digital social infrastructure of the future will be the formation of an ubiquitous AI infrastructure where AI is installed everywhere. We examine situations where technological innovations are being developed to fuse the real and virtual worlds created by AI-connected information spaces, and we report on the results of a survey of next-generation businesses created to promote the accelerated evolution of information and communications infrastructure and the realization of a decarbonized society.