Information Technology in Sweden and Japan

On Monday I was invited to an extremely interesting seminar on the uses and implactions of Information Technology (IT) both in Sweden and Japan. Organized by ITPS (Institutet för tillväxtpolitiska studier, i.e. Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies) , in cooperation with VINNOVA (the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems), NUTEK (the Swedish Business Development Agency) and STEM (the Swedish Energy Agency), it gave a broad overview of the innovations and challenges in the two regions.

First were several presentations hilighting the state of the art in Japan in respect to IT:
- JEITA (the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association) shed some light on the sucessful business models in the Japanese IT industry over the next 10 years : building on Japan's exceptional hardware, industrial and Intellectual Property assets, the country should strive towards an ubiquitous IT environment (From e-Life to u-Life - from electronics to ubiquity), as a part of the governmental policy of e-Japan. Through the convergence of sectors in which Japan has a strong presence (such as digital home appliances and mobile terminals) can the country grow as a leader in user-targeted IT innovations and uses.
- Representatives from Total Life and ALICE Forum explained the developments on the newest housing network equipments in Japan and the processes for standardizing and spreading its use. In comparison to what is being done in Sweden (for instance Svenska Bostäder's fiber-to-the-home city network in Vällingby), Japan seems more inclined towards smart house innovations, such as remote and centralized control, monitoring and surveillance. To illustrate this, we were shown an example of a wall socket featuring power, ethernet, TV and sensor access alltogether (pictured here).
- Speaking of sensors, the presentation from IPSquare underlined the impressive innovations occuring in Japan: they have developped a single-chip solution for processing information from versatile physical sensors (temperature, humidity, CO2 level...) and sending it over an IP network using standard protocols. thereby opening the way towards swarms of sensor-based intelligent agents.
- Showing that IT is diffusing itself into every economic sector in Japan, the presentation from SHIMIZU, a 200-year old construction group, underlined the influence of IT throughout the engineering process, with examples such as Mobile Phone Positioning System, Structural Health Monitoring System (important in earthquake-prone Japan), and Biotope Monitoring System.

After that, the seminar shifted towards IT in Sweden, with a special focus on governmental policy and social issues:
- Aiming for An Information Society for All, the Ministry of Industry, Employment and Communication explained Sweden's e-Government strategy, consisting of a specific structure and activity plan focusing on five prioritized areas: education, healthcare, broadband infrastructure, economic growth, and IT culture.
- Very logically, the focus was then put on the issue the ability to create a democratic information society for everyone, with a reflection on going from thinking IT as a tool for Democracy to Democracy in the Information Society. This would entail deep structural changes in the way democracy runs and is perceived by the citizens, but this is a far-reaching and long-term view that could position the Information Society as the founder for a renewed and updated democracy, just like the Industrial Revolution crafted the values and systems in which we are currently evolving.

As a perfect synthesis to bridge the views, assets and issues in Sweden and Japan, the seminar was concluded by an insightful reflection on what makes Sweden an Japan simultanesouly similar and different in the IT world. Both strong R&D and innovcation clusters with a strong home market, the two countries yet subtly differ in their respective strengths and weaknesses: international outlook, conceptual thinking and multidisciplinary thinking in Sweden, quicker Time To Market, playfulness of the domestic market and market push in Japan, to higlight a few.

All in all, this even was a great occasion to get a more global vision on what is driving IT in terms of innovation, markets and policies, thanks to the inspiring people present that day.

Comments

[Francis Mugasa]

Hi,
Iam Tanzania young man, i like to intoduce my company which will be providing solutions in Communications and Information Technology in Tanzania and East Africa.
I feel to exchange some experience with you, especial in IT Busuness,so please can you support me to let my company grow? and have investor to join me here in Tanzania and work togather.

My regards and welcome.

Francis Mugasa P.
DIRECTOR