Japan to promote high tech strategies for future growth

TOKYO —

The government launched a new panel on Thursday to discuss strategies for utilizing leading technologies to achieve economic growth in the years ahead, given the rapid graying of Japan’s population and the decline in its labor force.

During its first session, the panel of economists, business people and academics under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry discussed what measures Japan should adopt to ride the wave of a so-called “fourth industrial revolution” characterized by innovations brought about by robotics, artificial intelligence, big data and other new technologies.

The panel focused on how such technologies could change the structures of industry and employment in Japan towards the 2030s, with members agreeing to draw up a road map for development of cutting-edge technologies.

The ministry aims to produce a clear vision by around next spring of what regulatory reforms, law amendments and changes in business activities are needed to keep apace of global technological changes, with an eye to reflecting them when the government updates its growth strategy, a METI official said.

“I want this conference to be one that enables Japan to play a leading role in the global movements of the fourth industrial revolution,” industry minister Yoichi Miyazawa said at the gathering.

An annual government report released in June pointed out that the country’s manufacturing sector is lagging behind other countries in utilizing IT, calling on businesses to learn from such countries as Germany and the United States, which are seen as advancing in the area.

The METI official said that one of the key agenda items at the conference down the road will be how robots and humans can co-exist in the manufacturing sector, as the productive population is expected to drop rapidly in Japan in the future.

“The labor population is declining, while there are concerns that robots may steal people’s jobs. We want to discuss what changes will occur in which areas” due to new technologies, he said.

Promoting new technology to create innovation and boost productivity is one of the key elements of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s policy mix dubbed “Abenomics.”