URBAN PRIVACY Small Japanese towns look to lead world in smart-city tech By Eiki Hayashi
Japan’s regional towns are taking a new approach improve functionality and livability.
facturing. These include NEC Corporation, Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., Coca-Cola (Japan) Company, Limited, SoftBank Group Corp. and Mitsubishi Corporation, all of which are collaborating under one roof at the AiCT innovation center.
In the United States and China, which lead the field, people’s distrust of having personal information collected en masse is an obstacle to expanding smart cities. However, Japan is finding success in taking the opposite tack and making the provision of personal information optional. Data is the lifeblood of smart cities, and new standards are developing in how data is handled. Japan’s leading smart city is being built in Aizuwakamatsu in Fukushima Prefecture, a region famous for its sake and samurai tradition. At Takeda General Hospital, a male patient was using his smartphone to pay his bill. The system is a trial for using QR codes in electronic payments. “We want to make things more convenient by using QR codes; not just for paying hospital bills, but also for taxes, transportation, and regular purchases,” said Keisuke Kobayashi of TIS Inc., the company that developed the system. TIS also wants to reduce the time people spend at hospitals by offering services such as online booking of appointments and medicine delivery. The company envisions preventive health services, like remote medical care and artificial intelli gence-based diagnoses. Other companies are also hard at work in Aizuwakamatsu, enhancing mobility, education, energy, agriculture, and manu
TRUST MATTERS With a population of only 120,000, Aizuwakamatsu is a surprise as a leader of urban development. This can be attributed to its unique model, in which residents choose if they want to provide personal information in exchange for smart services. “Unless you have an ‘opt-in’ model, in which each service is expressly given permission to collect personal data, you won’t be able to gain trust,” said Shojiro Nakamura of consultancy Accenture, which oversees the project. “Without the residents’ trust, smart urban developments will fail.” The city is working to win over residents by clearly stating the benefits of opting in. To increase transparency and assure people that personal information will not be misused, data management will be overseen by the community. This year, for example, an idea was floated to install sensors in the parking lot of a local tourist attraction to determine if there might be a way to increase its appeal. But the city nixed the sensors, saying the technology might make residents nervous. Still, about 20 percent have registered for some kind of smart service. This is expected to rise to 30 percent by the end of fiscal 2020. “It’s important that we deepen our understanding of smart cities,” said Nakamura. When registration reaches 50 percent, the city will allow residents to opt in for all services as a bundle,
to smart cities, which use digital technology to
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