DX by Fujitsu Japan—What We Can Do to Make Local Community Happy

Table of Contents

1. Need for DX specialists in local community
2. Efforts in Tsumagoi Village receive Prime Minister’s Award at Summer Digital Koshien!
3. Closer look at the method and process of developing human resource by local DX specialists
4. Two directions of Fujitsu Japan for the future

Need for DX specialists in local community

Recently, various measures have been implemented by the government toward municipal DX, as indicated in the Basic Policies 2022 and the Priority Policy Program for the Realizing Digital Society. In a survey conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications for local governments on challenges in promoting DX, the number two issue was “securing information section staff,” and the number three was “securing human resources,” both of which were challenges in securing digital specialist human resources. The biggest issue in securing digital specialists was “not being able to find proper human resources.”^*3

In response, Fujitsu Japan registered with the Cabinet Secretariat/Cabinet Office’s Human Resources Support Program for Local Revitalization. Fujitsu believes that dispatching DX specialists from our company can be one solution to promote digitalization in local governments to solve local issues.

• ^*3
  Reference: Outline of Municipal DX Promotion Plan (Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) (P.27) (in Japanese)

Efforts in Tsumagoi Village receive Prime Minister’s Award at Summer Digita Koshien!

Tomoaki Yamaguchi, one of the local DX specialists, has been dispatched to Tsumagoi Village as the head of the Tsumagoi Village Digital Promotion Office since April 2021. In Tsumagoi Village, he not only proposes plans for a smart city and paperless system, but also plays a comprehensive role in organizing stakeholders and applying for grants.
Tsumagoi Village’s efforts have been awarded the Prime Minister’s Award in the 2022 Summer Digi-den Koshien sponsored by the Cabinet Secretariat, which recognizes the efforts of local governments that aim to revitalize their communities through the use of digital technology. Kumagawa, the mayor of Tsumagoi Village, and Yamaguchi were honored by Prime Minister Kishida at an awards ceremony on September 2, 2022. Mayor Kumagawa gave us high praise, saying, “Tsumagoi Village Smart City is the result of the efforts of Mr. Tomoaki Yamaguchi and Fujitsu Japan.”

Specific Efforts

In Tsumagoi Village, in addition to the drastic decrease in the number of tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the village was facing following issues: (1) Tourist and population information is not systematically centralized, and (2) Tourist attractions are scattered over a wide area (337 km2) and tourist information is also scattered on paper and on the Internet.
To solve these issues, project members led by Yamaguchi used big data on tourists (mobile spatial statistics that create population statistics based on the number of cell phones, the number of tourists entering the area, the results of a survey of approximately 30,000 people, etc.) to realize forecasts for tourism projects. They also opened a LINE account for tourists and provided tourist information and coupons at appropriate times. Furthermore, by making it possible to view disaster prevention information, such as information on the opening of evacuation shelters, through this LINE account, it has become possible to provide information not only in ordinary times but also in times of emergency through a single account.
As a result of these efforts, the number of Golden Week visitors in 2022 increased by 200% from 27,500 to 55,000 compared to previous year, contributing significantly to the recovery of the tourism industry.

Issue	Results
Decrease in tourists Information is not centralized No effective method in emergency response	Increase in the number of tourists by utilizing big data (doubled in GW compared to the previous year) Centralization of scattered tourist information Tourism account is also used as a disaster prevention account

Comments from Tomoaki Yamaguchi

We are currently working on a smart city and paperless among DX efforts in Tsumagoi Village. I am very pleased to receive the prestigious Prime Minister’s Award in the field of smart cities. The number of tourists to Tsumagoi Village dropped from 3 million per year as of 1993 to 2 million before COVID-19 pandemic, and further dropped to 810,000 in FY2020 due to pandemic, which was a major impact to the tourism industry. We believe that other municipalities have the same issues. In light of this situation, we would like to contribute to the regional development of other municipalities in Japan by applying the know-how we have gained in Tsumagoi Village to other municipalities.

As for the paperless system in Tsumagoi Village, a paperless meeting system was introduced in FY2021, and tablets were distributed to all council members and village departments, enabling the village to go paperless, including financial statements. In this way, a paperless system has been achieved, including meeting system and financial settlement.

Closer look at the method and process of developing human resource by local DX specialists

In addition to Tsumagoi Village, local DX specialists are dispatched throughout Japan, and there are various points to be noted when implementing from pre-dispatch to post-dispatch.

Pre-dispatch

• Municipalities wishing to accept specialists and Fujitsu Japan agree on the various conditions.
• Conduct company-wide recruit process and select appropriate personnel.
• Conduct training to learn the latest national trends including the Digital Agency, basic knowledge of municipal operations, and DX case studies such as smart cities and other measures.

During dispatch

• Finding local issues from the standpoint of a local resident.
• Planning DX demonstrations, as a local government official, to solve local issues. Then conduct demonstration experiments/implementation in cooperation with DX companies.
• Cross-sectional information sharing among local DX specialists from all over Japan to solve issues quickly in newly dispatched regions.

The efforts of local DX specialists are beginning to receive external recognition, including the Microsoft Japan Award at the 2022 Japan DX Awards. Microsoft Japan gave us a high evaluation and noted, “This is an example of how we can promote DX in each area and municipality with our partners, which is what we have been looking for, and we hope this initiative will be expanded nationwide.”

Two directions of Fujitsu Japan for the future

Fujitsu Japan will continue to promote activities in two directions. One is to further promote DX from the residents’ and local government’s perspective in areas where we have already dispatched DX specialists. The second is that we will continue to expand the dispatch area of local DX specialists, increase the number of cases following Tsumagoi Village nationwide, and contribute to the creation of a sustainable and bright future for the local community.

Related Information

• [Fujitsu Japan Solution Site] Producing Local DX Specialists: Dispatching DX Specialists to the Region as Residents—Creating the Future of the Region with Local DX Specialists (in Japanese)
• [Video] [Producing Local DX Specialists] Interview with specialists in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture (in Japanese)
• [Video] [Fujitsu Japan Limited] Save the Community by DX! The Challenge of the Local DX Transformation Program (Japan DX Awards) (in Japanese)
• [Article] “Briging happiness to the people of Kamoenai Village,Hokkaido through DX.”　Fujitsu Japan’s challenge to work on sustainable town development