Japan’s new plan for a super-intelligent society, Society 5.0, is a more far-reaching concept than the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as it envisions a complete transformation of the Japanese way of life by blurring the line between cyberspace and physical space. Here, the author of the latest UNESCO Science Report (2015) chapter on Japan, Professor Yasushi Sato of Niigata University, explains why both the government and business leaders have high hopes for this strategy.
At the end of the year, Shinzo Abe is expected to become the first Japanese Prime Minister to serve for more than eight years. During his record-breaking tenure, he has sought to revive Japan’s economy by promoting “Abenomics,” which consists of the “three arrows”: monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and a growth strategy.
These arrows were analyzed UNESCO Science Report: Towards 2030 (2015). The first two arrows have helped the Japanese economy stay afloat, but it is the last component that is very important in the long run. After the Abe Cabinet released its first growth strategy in 2013, it was revised every year until 2017, when it was revised to include the new Society 5.0 concept.
The term refers to the idea that Society 5.0 will follow Society 1.0 (hunter-gatherer), Society 2.0 (agriculture), Society 3.0 (industrialized), and Society 4.0 (information). Society 5.0, also called the “super-smart society”, envisions a sustainable, inclusive socio-economic system based on digital technologies such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things and robotics. A “cyber-physical system” in which cyberspace and physical space are tightly integrated will become a ubiquitous form of technology that supports Society 5.0. For some, the concept initially sounded like a lofty vision with no clear vision of how it would actually develop. Today, it inspires enthusiasm.
The transition to Society 5.0 is considered similar to the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, as both concepts refer to the current fundamental shift in our economic world towards a new paradigm. However, Society 5.0 is a more far-reaching concept, as it envisions a complete change in our way of life.
In Society 5.0, any product or service is optimally delivered to people and tailored to their needs. At the same time, Society 5.0 helps to overcome chronic social challenges, such as the aging of the population, social polarization, population loss, and constraints related to energy and the environment.
In Society 5.0, autonomous vehicles and drones bring goods and services to people living in populated areas. Customers can choose the size, color and fabric of their clothes online directly from the garment factory before they are delivered by drone. The doctor can advise his patients in the comfort of his own home with the help of a special tablet. While he examines them from afar, the robot might be vacuuming the carpet. At the nursing home down the road, another robot might help take care of the elderly. In the kitchen of the nursing home, the refrigerator monitors the condition of stored food in order to reduce waste. The city receives energy in a flexible and distributed manner with energy that meets the special needs of the residents. On the outskirts, self-driving tractors toil in the fields, while in the center, advanced cyber-physical systems maintain vital infrastructure and are ready to replace retiring technicians and craftsmen if there aren’t enough young people to fill the gap.
Society 5.0 has made STI policy a mainstream political agenda
The grand and somewhat obscure concept of Society 5.0 has gradually become the centerpiece of the Abe Cabinet’s growth strategy – meaning that science, technology and innovation policy has now become a mainstream political agenda. Japan’s regular science and technology budget, which had stagnated between 2002 and 2017 at about 3.6 trillion yen ($33 billion), suddenly rose to 3.8 trillion yen ($35 billion) in 2018 and then 4.2 trillion yen ($23 billion in technical change). The goal is to reduce the budget, such a significant increase would have been impossible just a few years ago. Accelerated by such political power, Japan’s investments in the development and application of digital technologies and basic research have just received a significant boost.
Looking back, the concept of Society 5.0 first appeared in 2016 Fifth Science and Technology Basic PlanA five-year national strategy prepared by the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI). The plan included the results of intensive discussions by expert committees managed since 2014 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). This process resulted in Society 5.0 becoming a government-wide vision for Japan’s future. Of course, the longevity of the Abe cabinet has also created an environment conducive to fine-tuning the government’s vision over time.
Industry’s strong support for Society 5.0
At the same time, Society 5.0 has received strong support from industry. In 2015 and 2016, relevant ministers and business leaders met several times to discuss the direction Japan should take. Just a few months after CSTI published Fifth Science and Technology Basic PlanThe Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), which unites the country’s largest companies, published its own policy proposal for Society 5.0. A close relationship developed between the government and industry, especially with Keidanren, which gave Society 5.0 the momentum to move forward at a rapid pace.
Cooperation between the state and industry has expanded to many fields. The Growth Strategy Council – Investing in the Future committee, consisting of ministers, company CEOs and academics, has established industry and government committees for five key themes: (1) next-generation mobility/smart city, (2) smart public services, (3) next-generation infrastructure, (4) FinTech (non-financial technology) and (5) the next generation. These committees consist of representatives of companies and heads of departments in ministries.
This structure discusses visions and strategies for the adoption of digital technologies, as well as challenges related to human resources, regulatory reform, open data and cyber security. The Council has also started a discussion on the need for legislation regulating the digital data market. This follows Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announcement at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January that Japan will use the presidency of the G20 summit on June 28-29, 2019, to promote the idea of expanding World Trade Organization rules beyond goods and services to include data trade. He said he would “like the Osaka G20 to be remembered as the summit that started global information governance”.
of Japan Artificial Intelligence Technology Strategy is a key pillar of Society 5.0. It characterizes artificial intelligence as a service and foresees three stages for the development and use of artificial intelligence: (1) the expansion of the use of data-based artificial intelligence in each service area, (2) the general use of artificial intelligence and data in different services, and (3) the formation of ecosystems through the complex integration of these services. The Artificial Intelligence Technology Strategy apply this framework to the three focus areas of society 5.0, which are health, mobility and productivity.
The strategy was published in March 2017 – making it only the second national AI strategy after Canada’s – in the Council for Artificial Intelligence Technology Strategy, which had been set by CSTI in April 2016 to develop a road map for the industrialization of artificial intelligence. The council consisted of presidents of universities and national research institutes, as well as business moguls such as the former chairman of Toyota.
Recently, CSTI has considered the ethical principles related to the research, development and use of artificial intelligence. It puts the finishing touches on it Principles of a human-centered AI society in March of this year.
Society 5.0 oriented Sustainable Development Agenda 2030
Recently, Society 5.0 took on a new meaning. Both the Abe Cabinet’s growth strategy and Keidanren’s own policy proposals expect Society 5.0 to make a significant contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
Since Society 5.0 is aimed at meeting societal challenges and realizing a sustainable, inclusive, people-centered society, the Japanese government and Keidanren conclude from this that Society 5.0 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) point in the same direction.
Keidanren even revised its charter of corporate conduct in November 2017, urging its member companies to “proactively address the SDGs by implementing Society 5.0.”
Why is Japanese society committed to Society 5.0?
All of Japan seems to be increasingly committed to the vision of Society 5.0. Why? Behind the growing enthusiasm for Society 5.0 seems to be the burning desire of the Japanese government and business community to seize this golden opportunity to reverse lingering negative trends. The economy grew by less than 2% in 2017 for the sixth year in a row. As reminded UNESCO Science Report (2015), Japan has experienced prolonged economic stagnation since the 1990s due to several factors: ever-intensifying global competition, the changing structure of value creation in the new digital economy, a declining and aging population, and the growing fiscal pressure caused by rising public spending on social security.
Japan may be able to overcome such disadvantages by pursuing Society 5.0. Although Japan has so far not been a pioneer in digital industry, the nation may be able to leverage its traditional strengths in mechanical and materials engineering to develop advanced cyber-physical systems. With the active adoption of artificial intelligence in the workplace, population loss and aging may cease to be disadvantages – or even become advantages – in a less labor-intensive economy.
Japan has difficult problems, but the government and business leaders see the Society 5.0 concept as a way to solve them. They estimate that Japan can then share its own experiences with the rest of the world, as other countries may face similar problems sooner or later. Already, Japan is not the only high-income country facing an aging population and slow population growth as it struggles to compete in the new digital economy.
The Japanese government is now preparing to present its vision of Society 5.0 and the connection between Society 5.0 and the Sustainable Development Goals at the G20 summit in Osaka in June. EXPO 2025, which will be held in Osaka under the themes of the Sustainable Development Goals and Society 5.0, offers Japan a new opportunity to share its new vision of the future with the world.