Looking at the world from a global perspective, "4th Industrial Revolution" is rapidly developing, and Japan
also has to develop smart cities in order to further develop ICT technology and solve various problems, for
example, by advocating science and technology policies such as "Society 5.0" as shown on another page. However,
since there are not enough smart cities in Japan, it is necessary to form various types of smart cities that
will be precedent cases (Model). To create a leading smart city, ministries and agencies are developing
businesses that support local governments and related companies.
Next Generation Energy and Social System Demonstration Project (2010 – 2013)/Ministry
of Economy , Trade and Industry
In 2010, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry selected 4 cities in the 'Next Generation Energy
and Social System Demonstration Project'. In these 4 cities, the trial introduction of Energy Management System (EMS) and Smart Grid was
carried out according to the characteristics of each city.
Image by my team
Data Utilization Smart City Promotion Project (2017 years)/Ministry of Internal Affairs
and Communications
As its name suggests, a data-utilization smart city is a city that aggregates vast amounts of data from
various fields such as administration, weather, tourism, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, standardizes
data using modules and clouds to make it easier to use, and uses that data to solve various problems in the
region.
Image: Created by a team, referring to "Chart 4: -6 -3 -1 Basic Concept of Data
Utilizing Smart Cities" (https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/ja/r01/pdf/01honpen.pdf) in the
White Paper on Information and Communications Technology, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
Social Implementation of Near-Future Technologies (2018 years)/Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office has been implementing the "Future technologies and other social implementation
projects" since fiscal 2018. Under this plan, projects will be selected that will be able to implement some
of the near-future technologies by FY 2020 and to implement them in society until they can be deployed to
other regions by FY 2024, and the relevant ministries and agencies will provide support. Businesses are
being selected to use robots, drones and AI to create new smart cities.
Image : Cabinet Office HP "Smart City Related Businesses (Future technologies and other
social implementation projects)"
Smart City Model Project (2019 years)/Ministry of Land , Infrastructure and Transport
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism selected the "predecessor model project" which
will carry out pioneering activities in 2019, the "Priority Projects Promotion Project" which aims at early
commercialization through intensive support by the national government, and the consortium "Smart City
Promotion Partners" which has a certain level of enthusiasm for the proposal. In the preceding model
project, we will start concrete efforts and share issues to lead the overall efforts. The Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism provides support for projects to promote priority commercialization,
such as dispatching experts and providing support for planning.
Image : Ministry of https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001291681.pdf) Land , Infrastructure ,
Transport and Tourism website "[Sanko] Previous Model Project Overview"
Smart Mobility Challenge (2019 years)/Ministry of Economy , Trade and Industry/Ministry of
Land , Infrastructure and Transport
Click to show/hide
The Smart Mobility Challenge was launched in fiscal 2019 under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The purpose is to encourage
cooperation between local communities and companies for the social implementation of new mobility services
utilizing IoT and AI. Mobility is the English word for "mobility" and it is an effort to improve the mobility
of local transportation mainly through MaaS.
Image from Ministry of Economy , Trade and Industry HP (
https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2019/06/20190618004/20190618004.html)
As mentioned above, there are many national projects that support local governments and other organizations to
realize smart cities. Smart Cities, which use data to solve various problems, and Smart Cities, which use ICT to
solve transportation problems, are not all the same in terms of their business activities. However, and remain unchanged.
Teacher
As you can see from the Cabinet Office and the Ministry implementing the above
projects, since smart cities cover other fields, organizations from various countries are involved. In other
words, it is necessary for each ministry and agency to cooperate with companies in various industries
regardless of one ministry and agency. This led to the creation of the "Smart City Public-Private
Partnership Platform".
Smart City Public-Private Partnerships Platform (2019 years)/Related 11 Ministries and
Agencies
Click to show/hide
The Smart City Public-Private Partnership Platform has 471 member organizations (As of August 8, 2019),
including companies, universities and research institutes, local governments, the Cabinet Office, the
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. It is designed to further promote the smart city
business and to match companies, universities, etc. with local governments (connection). This
initiative has made it easier to create smart cities and share information among companies and local
governments.
Teacher
The following are part of the participating organizations. You can see that many
local governments and companies from various industries participate.
Image : Created by our team , referring to the Ministry of Land , Infrastructure ,
Transport and Tourism website 'List of Smart City Public-Private Partnership Platform Members' (
https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001302313.pdf)
Image from Ministry of Economy , Trade and Industry HP (
https://www.meti.go.jp/press/2019/06/20190618004/20190618004.html) 
Image : Created by our team , referring to the Ministry of Land , Infrastructure ,
Transport and Tourism website 'List of Smart City Public-Private Partnership Platform Members' (
https://www.mlit.go.jp/common/001302313.pdf) 