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Special Report:
“Collaboration between businesses and universities in the
United States with the aim of promoting electronic commerce”
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Below is a report by Ms. Chiyo
Kobayashi, Chairman of Washington/CORE LLC, who lives in the
United States, on the current status of dynamic collaboration
in that country between businesses and universities in the
development of electronic commerce (EC).
What is a great favorite of children
in the United States? If you say “macaroni and cheese”
right away, I suppose that you know quite a lot about the
United States. A RFID research room, in which many products
including “macaroni and cheese”, “mac-n-cheese”
for brevity, are used as experiment subjects, was opened in
the University of Wisconsin this August. The members of the
research room are making efforts to solve the following problems:
how tags should be blown on “mac-n-cheese” on
belt conveyors, how fast they should be moved, from which
angle wireless signals should be sent to read information,
and how the products should be transported into warehouses
in the most efficient manner. They are trying to examine RFID
technologies based on actual scenarios by re-creating warehouse
environments of manufacturing companies and handling actual
products.
|  Dynamic
collaboration between businesses and universities
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The research room is
sponsored by fifty-odd private companies including Kraft Foods
Inc., a major food company and manufacturer of “mac-n-cheese”,
3M, a major company in industrial products, and Land’s
End, Inc., a major casual clothing company based on catalog
sales. The “RFID Industry Working Group” that belongs
to the “e-Business Consortium Research Institute”,
which is a key project of the University of Wisconsin, is mainly
operating the research room. It constitutes of some laboratories:
an echo-free studio, portable warehouses and docks that enable
loading and unloading, and other similar facilities. All kinds
of experiments on the practical application of RFID technologies
are conducted from the perspective of physics and engineering.
For example, research studies are conducted on the following
technological problems to produce useful results for actual
application: amplitude of antenna signals and angles of antennas
to read information, flow and speed of products on belt conveyors
and attachment of tags, in particular, embedding of tags into
products from the beginning instead of adding tags to packaged
products. On these occasions, the laboratories play roles of
incubators of RFID technologies by testing technologies of venture
companies, such as tag “blow-on” attachment technology
of Zebra Technologies Corporation and light sensor reader technologies
of Alien Technology Corporation and Symbol Technologies, Inc.
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Establishment
of win-win relations
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In the United States,
as is represented by the RFID laboratories of the University
of Wisconsin, there are all forms of collaborative activities
between businesses and universities with a keyword of EC promotion.
Especially, in some cases, research and development activities
in universities are not only developing completely new technologies
but also giving momenta to conventional technologies and creating
new markets. In fact, RFID technologies, which already existed
when World War II broke out, have sparked the creation of the
current RFID-boom due to experiments in Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), which were sponsored by Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc. and Gillette for four years from 1999 to 2003. Research
and development activities on EC are still being developed in
many universities. For example, in the University of Denver,
XML/EDI initiatives and maturity models on system development
are being developed and technical standards are being established.
EC technological development programs of many universities are
backed up not only by IT major companies, such as IBM, Cisco
Systems, Inc., AT&T Inc., Intel Corporation, Microsoft Corporation
and Oracle Corporation, but also by major user companies, such
as Kodak, GlaxoSmithKline (a major pharmaceutical company),
Coors Brewing Company, and General Motors Corporation (GM).
The advantages are as follows: vendor companies can limit high-risk
investments by sharing R&D investments in cutting-edge technologies
with other companies, user companies can make use of research
results of universities, and universities can conduct most-advanced
research activities whose results companies intend to introduce
into the market. Thus, win-win relations are established.
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| Creation
of legal and ethical infrastructures |
Universities play important
roles in developing not only technological but also legal infrastructures.
For example, the Law School of Stanford University has some
research institutes such as the “Center for e-Commerce”
and the “Center for Internet and Society”, with
lecturers and advisers from major law firms and venture capital
companies. It also provides opportunities for not only conducting
surveys and research studies on the desk but also coping with
legal issues of extremely high practical workability on the
Internet by establishing the “Cyber Law Clinic”
through which students can become involved in actual lawsuits
in relation to problems on the Internet. For the purpose of
developing EC, it is more indispensable to organize legal and
ethical rules, covering areas from on-line illicit trading to
protection of personal information and copyrights, than to improve
technologies. Law schools of universities are contributing to
the creation of legal and ethical infrastructures for the promotion
of EC by making efforts to absorb problem consciousness from
the private sector, study social problems and establish rules.
In the United States, unlike in Japan where institutional designs
are worked out at the initiative of the government, universities
and nonprofit organizations are taking the initiative in creating
systems for the diffusion of new technologies in close cooperation
with the private sector.
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| Management
approaches and business models |
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We should not miss MBA courses (business
schools) of universities in the United States, in which EC is
studied from the perspective of business. Courses and programs
that are specialized in EC are included in most influential MBA
courses in the United States. With the aim of becoming leading
educational institutes for business persons who play central roles
in the next-generation information economy, business schools are
fiercely competing with one another in the contents of programs,
recruitment of professors and high-quality students. For example,
the business school of the University of Maryland has been recently
distinguishing itself in the United States. With a slogan of “Leaders
for the Digital Economy”, the university is conducting research
studies on business models and management approaches of service
industries, and electronic governments to establish a “center
of excellence” (specialized area) in the service sector.
As part of the activities, the university focuses on research
on e-business: to be blunt, “how companies produce profits
by means of EC.” Efforts of the University of Maryland with
a focus not on the manufacturing industry but on the service sector,
as a pioneer in a new research area called “service science”,
are gathering attention from all over the United States. The university
is backed up by IBM, industry organizations in relation to electronic
governments and the Internet, American Marketing Association,
and other similar groups.
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Business school of the
University of Maryland |
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| Utilization
of MIT brains |
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Universities in the United States have
a long history in “research studies sponsored” by
companies, and EC is chosen with increasing frequency as a theme
of the sponsored research studies. MIT, with all big-name professors
in EC, comes up to my brain first as a popular university among
companies. The “Center for e-Business” of MIT has
the greatest brains in individual areas under themes such as digital
marketing strategies, digital productivity, global financial services
and security, and provides consulting services to powerful companies.
For example, MasterCard is outsourcing a survey on on-line payments
to a team led by Professor Cusumano of the university, who is
an authority in IT strategies. Cisco Systems, Inc. is supporting
a study on business process evaluation by Professor Brynjolfsson,
who is famous for research on IT investment effects. GM, PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC), which is a major consulting company, and United Parcel
Service of America, Inc. (UPS) are also outsourcing research studies
to teams led by professors of MIT, on “Dream CRM”,
“Information Transparency and Value Report”, and the
“Structure of Logistics Systems”, respectively. The
industrial world enjoys significant advantages owing to collaborative
activities with universities, by making use of external brains
in universities and other similar organizations through discussions
to find out problems and issues that can not be internally seen
as well as solutions.
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| Management
and engineering |
Also in Japan, an interdisciplinary area that combines engineering
and business administration, which is called “MOT=management
of technology”, has been gathering attention for a long
time. EC is highlighted as a research area in which business
administration and engineering are combined. For example, a
wide range of subjects from technologies to EC strategies are
treated in the “e-Commerce Program” in North Carolina
State University, which is a joint program by its engineering
department and business school. The university has established
a research institute called the “e-Commerce Studio”
to conduct research studies on web services and security technologies.
Also other universities, such as Vanderbilt University that
is specialized in the retail industry and North Carolina AT&T
State University that focuses on entrepreneurship, are actively
developing interdisciplinary research studies on EC across barriers
of conventional disciplines. They aim to produce not only human
resources who can “understand both technologies and businesses”
but also innovative and fresh ideas and business models by mixing
arts and sciences.
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Collaboration
between “universities” and “private companies”
that gives dreams to
younger generations |
I think that the greatest effect of
collaboration between universities and private companies is
the development of human resources. Many EC programs of universities
in the United States have roles of fostering next-generation
leaders who will supposedly develop their careers by being engaged
in EC in some way. The U.S. universities provide interesting
and attractive curriculums for students and foster their dreams:
the students are enthusiastic about “establishing venture
companies some day and being immensely successful as entrepreneurs”;
they cope with business problems that top-class companies have
to face and consider “how to solve problems and improve
business performance” as if they were business executives;
they aim to “establish de facto standards for themselves”
by making use of tools and solutions of companies with cutting-edge
technologies. It can be said that the dream-making collaboration
between “universities” and “private companies”
has been making a great impact on the scouting and development
of innovation creators in the United States.
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Introduction
of the writer:
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| Chiyo Kobayashi,
Chairman of Washington/CORE LLC
After graduating
from the Department of International and Cultural Studies,
Tsuda College, she took a master’s degree in international
relations from the University of Virginia, U.S.A.
In 1995, she established “Washington/CORE
LLC”, a business policy consulting firm based in
Washington D.C. and became chairman. She is developing
a wide range of writing and lecture activities
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Report on the Progress of “RFID Tags/Traceability
Promotion WG” |
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Starting from this issue, we will
make a series of reports as needed on the progress of activities
carried out by the “Special Committee on RFID Tags/Traceability.”
This time, Mr. Masaaki Higashino, Research Director of ECOM, gives
an overall picture of efforts by ECOM in FY 2005 regarding RFID
tags and traceability, and makes a report on the progress of activities
carried out by the “RFID Tags/Traceability Promotion WG.”
| I.
Overall picture of efforts by ECOM in FY 2005 regarding RFID
tags and traceability |
ECOM has set four objectives
regarding RFID tags/traceability: 1) promotion of cross-industrial
utilization of RFID tags 2) securement of interconnectivity and
interoperability between industries 3) diffusion of RFID tag technology
4) compliance with international standards (ISO/IEC) and proposals
to international standard organizations. With the objectives,
working groups are engaged in survey research projects in concert
with each other, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: RFID Tags/Traceability-related
WGs
Specifically, we are
examining RFID tag utilization models, data elements on the tags,
privacy protection measures when the tags are distributed to consumers,
and new types of business with the technology. They materialize
the optimization of managing a product life cycle starting from
production and continuing through transportation, sales, and consumers.
Figure 2: Main Activities
of ECOM in FY 2005
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| II. RFID Tags/Traceability Promotion
WG |
RFID Tags/Traceability Promotion WG
has started its activities for FY 2005. The first WG was held
on August 25, with 59 members in total, including the chair,
Shoichiro Asano, Professor of the National Institute of Informatics,
eleven intellectuals and 47 ECOM members.
1. Objectives of RFID Tags/Traceability Promotion WG
RFID Tags/Traceability Promotion WG conducts
mainly the following two survey research studies:
1) Extraction of problems and examination of solutions regarding
RFID tags utilization in product life cycle management
We establish RFID tags utilization models
which materialize the optimization of product life cycle management,
starting from production and continuing through transportation,
sales and consumers, and identify data elements which are necessary
for the models. Improvement plans for business processes of
each company are examined in terms of cross-industry, with the
full understanding of necessary information for their business
in product life cycles.
2) Transmitting know-how of the field pilot tests to other
industries and examination of various issues with the utilization
of RFID tags
After a cross-sectional analysis of
the results of seven field pilot tests by the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry in FY 2004, we transmit the know-how which
has been defined to other industries, and examine solutions
for cross-industrial issues.
2. Progress Situation
Regarding the above 1. 1), two industries
(electronic industry and office appliance industry) were selected,
and the following research studies are being conducted in manufacturing,
sales, maintenance and recycling companies: (1) extraction of
common business processes, which share the same information
between different companies (2) research on the situation of
information systems and data elements, which are being used
for the business processes (3) research on utilization of automatic
recognition (4) surveys on systems and restrictions for information
disclosure.
A task force (TF) will be established
in December, 2005, in order to examine the applicability of
RFID tags, utilization models for business processes between
companies, and new value-added services.
Regarding the above 1. 2), TF, consisting
of volunteers, is conducting a cross-industrial analysis of
seven field pilot tests in FY 2004. Specifically, they analyze
(1) why there was a need to consider the introduction of RFID
tags (2) what the RFID tag system is like (3) considerations
which were made for back-ups of the RFID tag system (4) quantitative
and qualitative effects of RFID tags as results of the field
pilot tests (5) cross-industrial issues with introduction and
operation of RFID tags, etc. Those reports are scheduled to
be completed in the middle of December and reviewed in a WG,
which is to be held at the end of the month.
3. Future Development
Though surveys, including the analyses,
are currently the main activities, in the future, based on the
results of surveys, we would like to go into a next stage to
discuss solutions of common issues, value-added business, etc.,
with “wisdom.” With the full cooperation of WG members,
we will make further efforts to make reports which are useful
for ECOM members.
*This project was jointly implemented
by the JIPDEC / Electronic Commerce Promotion Center and the Next
Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, as one
of the projects commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry.
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Outline of Lectures at the “Fourth ECOM
Seminar 2005”
- The Latest Trend in the Protection
of Personal Information in the Public and Private Sectors- |
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On November 7 (Monday), 2005, a monthly
ECOM seminar was held under the above-mentioned theme at the Kikai
Shinko Kaikan Building (Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo). On the day,
more than 100 visitors including members and the general audience
attended the seminar.
In this seminar, with the aim of “reexamining
the protection system of personal information” seven months
after the Act on the Protection of Personal Information was enforced,
three lecturers gave presentations on the current status after
the act was enforced and trend in measures and policies, efforts
by the private sector, and false steps of companies.
Lecture materials are released on the
website for ECOM members.
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| Lecture
1: “The Current Status and Trend in Measures and Policies
after the Enforcement of the Act on the Protection of Personal
Information” |
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Mr. Yuichi Saito
Deputy Director, Information Economy Division
Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry
Enactment and enforcement of the Act on the
Protection of Personal Information
What is behind the enactment
of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information is that concerns
about personal information have grown among people because the
developed IT society has enabled anyone to easily copy and carry
a large quantity of personal information and because large-scale
information leaks occurred one after another. However, this act
does not aim to reduce the usage of personal information as much
as possible for the purpose of protecting personal information;
it rather aims to take a balance between protection and utilization
of personal information by establishing certain rules and making
use of personal information in accordance with the rules, from
the viewpoint that it is indispensable to effectively make use
of personal information in the IT society.
As for leaks of personal information after
the act was enforced, we have received approximately 500 reports
from April to September. In one-fourth of the cases, personal
information of one person was leaked. Losses and thefts of personal
computers and memories and unauthorized accesses were main reasons
for serious cases in which personal information of more people
was leaked. As for the overall trend in reasons for leak accidents,
careless mistakes by employees and other similar persons including
losses and thefts of documents accounted for a large percentage;
internal rules were not known to all employees although the rules
were prepared before the act was enforced. Employees took out
documents although they did not have to or they did not pay attention
to the handling of personal information without recognizing its
importance. I think that such behaviors caused information leaks
in many cases, and that it is important to reform employee consciousness
and spread laws and internal rules. It is also important to promptly
cope with accidents if they should occur. In some cases in the
past, companies ran in panic on information leaks and took only
follow-up measures. Recently, a company was about to be sued because
it took ten days just to organize and publicly announce facts
and customers’ distrust increased during that time. It is
important to promptly release all facts and make apologies.
Willful information leaks by employees
often lead to serious situations. However, in some cases, it is
impossible to punish such employees due to inconsistency among
laws. Therefore, we are examining the establishment of penalties
to cope with information leaks by employees by revising the Personal
Information Protection Act.
Guideline for the protection of personal
information in the area of economy, trade and industry
One of the characteristics of the guideline
for the protection of personal information in the area of economy,
trade and industry is that, in showing legal interpretations,
many legal and illegal cases are remunerated. As supplements to
the guideline, questions and answers in relation to the “Guideline
for the Act on Personal Information Protection in the Area of
Economy, Trade and Industry” and other similar documents
are released on the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry. Approximately eighty questions and answers are now
listed, but if possible, we would like to increase the number
to 150 or so within this year, including ones under review.
We will examine to revise the guideline
in accordance with trend in the above-mentioned revision of the
act under consideration.
Personal information protection JIS, the privacy mark system
and certified organizations for the protection of personal information
A guideline for the
personal information protection was established by the Ministry
of International Trade and Industry (at that time) in 1989. The
guideline was revised in 1997, and was made as JIS (JIS Q 15001)
in 1999. In 1998, the privacy mark system was also established
and the personal information protection JIS is used as a certification
standard in the system. The personal information protection JIS
will be revised in early FY 2006 to secure consistency with other
management system standards as well as the concepts and terms
of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information.
Certified privacy-mark companies have
been increasing year after year, but applicants have been increasing
at a higher rate. Therefore, it takes a long time to finish examinations.
To cope with this problem, we are making efforts to promptly process
applications not only by strengthening the examination system
of JIPDEC as a mark-granting organization but also by further increasing
the number of designated examining authorities.
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Last of all, I would
like to talk about certified organizations for the protection
of personal information. They are private organizations that are
engaged in providing information to and handling complaints of
individual companies in relation to the protection of personal
information, for the purpose of promoting voluntary efforts by
individual companies to protect personal information, and they
are certified by the minister in charge. At present, six groups
under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry
are certified as organizations for the protection of personal
information. We are also examining some groups, and we would like
to increase the number of certified organizations in the future.
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Lecture 2: “Efforts by Matsushita Electric Industrial
Co., Ltd., to Protect Personal Information” |
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Mr. Jiro Higashiyama
Senior Coordinator, Corporate Information Security Division
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
Concept of the protection of personal information and keywords
for promotion
From the viewpoint that “personal
information is precious assets from customers”, Matsushita
Group has been promoting the protection of personal information
to provide safety and security to customers and to acquire and
increase their trust. For these purposes, we are developing various
kinds of activities from the following four perspectives: compliance
(Act on the Protection of Personal Information), CS (customer
satisfaction), information security (safety management), and risk
management (handling of accidents). In particular, from the viewpoint
of CS, we recognize the necessity of actively using personal information
to meet customers’ needs and the importance of protecting
personal information for this purpose. In other words, we should
not have personal information that we do not use. As for risk
management, in case of accidents, we make apologies and explanations
to customers, release facts on our website, etc., and report to
supervisory authorities, by placing the highest priority on the
protection of customers, regardless of the number of persons who
are involved in accidents.
We have three keywords for promoting the
protection of personal information: “establishment of specific
and easy-to-understand rules for everyone”, “increase
in exposure (security reinforcement month, display of posters,
etc.) and development of personal information protection as an
across-the-board activity” and “strong top-down promotion
and stimuli to inter-division competition”. On actual sites
where activities are being developed to protect personal information,
it is important to establish specific and easy-to-understand rules
and systems so that there may be no differences in responses,
regardless of persons in charge. It is also necessary to promote
the protection of personal information not as a partial activity
but as an across-the-board activity, because it is an effort to
increase corporate value. With regard to security activity in
particular, it is necessary to reform in-company consciousness
and it is important to promote the activity based on strong top-down
instructions from the president and the head office.
Efforts for the protection of information security and personal
information
Matsushita Group is promoting the protection
of personal information as part of its efforts for information
security. We started to work for information security in 1999,
and for the protection of personal information in 2001, and we
newly established Corporate Information Security Division in January,
2004. With a slogan of “being the severest company in information
security in the world”, we are developing activities such
as clarification of information assets, implementation of PDCA
cycle, and handling of accidents.
As for efforts in FY 2004 to protect personal information, we
conducted a company-wide survey in June on the current internal
status. In October, we established management rules based on the
guideline by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, started
a registration system and conducted an internal audit. Thus, we
made efforts to respond to the fully enforced Act on the Protection
of Personal Information. In FY 2005, for the purpose of more thoroughly
conforming to laws and acquiring customers’ trust, the overall
group is making efforts to obtain a privacy mark and to establish
global rules.
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| Lecture
3: “False Steps Many Companies make and Solutions to
Them” |
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Mr. Yasushi Suzuki, President, CP Design
Consulting Co., Ltd.
False steps and solutions
Personal information is classified into
two types: self-obtained information and information obtained
through other companies. People have rights to ask for the scope
of use, accuracy and safety, and future responses (responses including
disclosures and handling of complaints). Those rights are protected
by “personal information handling contracts”, which
has the same legal force as other contracts. With regard to “constraints
to purposes” in the scope of use, it is important to clearly
specify purposes of use and “assure security in applications”.
As for “constraints to companies”, only third parties
with first-person informed consents, co-users and outsourcees
can handle personal information. It is necessary to obtain first-person
informed consents in advance in case of providing information
to third parties, to notify related parties of co-use and names
of supervisors in case of co-use, and to supervise outsourcees
in case of outsourcing, respectively. As for the “securing
of safety”, it is important to clarify risks based on a
flow chart from access to information to utilization of it. As
for “future responses to first-person requirements”,
it is necessary to decide, according to disclosure requirement
items, if simple identity verification is acceptable or if more
accurate written identity verification is required. For companies
handling personal information, it is important to confirm “when,
where, who, what, why and how” and the way of “acquisition
and inputting, transfer and transmission, utilization and processing,
storage and backup, and elimination and destruction.”
Why do many companies make false steps
here? The reason is lack of imagination and belongingness. In
addition, what are common to companies from which personal information
is easily leaked are as follows: networks are much slower than
before; employees can not be distinguished from outsiders; it
is difficult to grasp employees’ activities because office
spaces are divided with partitions; and personal computers are
not managed because one or more PCs are allocated to individual
employees.
Concept on public announcements and reports in case of leaks
of personal information (proposal)
“Responsibilities for reporting”
of accidents in relation to personal information are not clearly
treated in the Act on the Protection of Personal Information,
but treated in the guideline in the area of economy, trade and
industry, and required from supervisory authorities. From the
perspective of increasing corporate transparency, obtaining understanding
and trust from customers, and eliminating doubts about information
hiding, it would be desirable to publicly announce information
leaks in any case. However, in internally establishing public
announcement standards, it is necessary to take the feeling of
unfairness (“why do only we have to publicly announce information
leaks?”) into consideration. Purposes of “public announcements”
and “reports” are as follows: prevention of secondary
damages (expansion of damages), avoidance of occurrences of similar
cases, apologies and securing of management transparency. In establishing
standards for “public announcements” and “reports”,
some companies will consider the necessity of establishing standards
based on the number of accidents and the contents of personal
information. It is also important to review established standards
for public announcements and reports in consideration of social
conditions, etc.
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Announcement of the “Seventh
ECOM Seminar 2005”
Efforts to Cope with Implementation
of e-Document Law – Report on the Result of Interoperability
Test Based on Long-Term Storage Formats – |
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| Date: |
13:30~16:40 December 16 (Friday), 2005 |
| Place: |
Meeting rooms 6D-1, 2 and 3, 6F, Kikai Shinko Kaikan Bldg.
(3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-ku, Tokyo) |
 Program
13:30~14:30 |
Lecture 1: Measures in Response
to e-Documents Law and Long-Term Storage of Electronic Documents |
14:30~15:30 |
Long-Term Storage Formats of Electronic
Signature Documents |
15:40~16:40 |
ECOM’s Interoperability Pilot Test
Based on Long-Term Signature Formats |
For details, please refer to the website of ECOM (http://www.jipdec.or.jp/archives/ecom/seminar/seminar07.html)
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Reports on Research of the German
e-Government and “e-2005” |
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From October 13 (Thursday) to 17 (Monday),
2005, Mr. Yoji Maeda, Research Director of ECOM (Security WG)
and Mr. Kazuo Maeda, Research Director of ECOM (e-Government &
Business Collaboration WG) visited Germany to research the current
situation of IT. Following the visit, Mr. Maeda attended the “e-2005”
which was held in Republic of Slovenia on October 19 (Wednesday)
- 21 (Friday).
Mr. Yoji Maeda makes a report on the research.
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1.Research on the German e-Government |
In 2000, the German
government announced “BundOnline 2005,” an e-government
program of the federal government, and has been planning to offer
385 main services online to citizens, companies and administrative
bodies. In addition, “DeutschlandOnline” was announced
in 2003, with an aim to materialize the e-Government networking
all strata of the government (the federal government, sixteen
federal states, more than 300 local districts and more than 13,000
local governments).
This
time, we visited the eGov Center at Fraunhofer Institute, which
takes a part in promoting the German e-Government, in Berlin,
to conduct a hearing of the progress of the “BundOnline
2005.” We also visited the provincial government of Bayern
in Munich, to conduct another hearing of the progress of e-Government
in Bayern and the situation of utilization of public key infrastructures
(PKI).
1.1 eGov Center at Fraunhofer
Institute in Berlin
Mr. Schmid and other people, who are
engaged in the “BundOnline 2005,” explained mainly
the progress of the project. “BundOnline 2005” is
running smoothly. New required services have been added to the
385 services, and they are now offering approximately 500 services.
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| After
the meeting, with Mr. Schmid (center) |
However,
the number of people who actually use the e-Government services
is still small, so that they are now putting most of their efforts
into spreading the services by placing flyers on trains, making
goods, etc.
This project has been carried forward
with the funds, which are collected at a fixed rate from the ICT
budgets of each state by the federal government. Plans for post-“BundOnline
2005” are not yet determined.
1.2 The Bavarian Government in
Munich
Mr. Meyer
is in charge of the one of the projects of the Bavarian e-Government
to reduce the number of officials. Bayern is the only state in
Germany which maintains a budget surplus. However, they still
need to work on reducing the number of officials, considering
tight state finances in the next thirty years.
Services
of the e-Government for citizens are low in their use: citizens
traditionally don’t visit governments often. A survey shows
that the average number of times for citizens to visit governments
is 1.25 times per year (except for paying taxes, the number of
visits is only once in ten years for moving, purchase of a house,
etc.), which is very low.
The tax return system starts from January 1, 2006, in four states,
including Bayern. In a company’s case, tax accountants can
file online.
 |
| After
the meeting, with Mr. Meyer (left) |
PKI has
mainly been used for signatures on e-mails, but seldom for electronic
documents. Currently, around 3,000 officials in the Bavarian government
use the signatures on e-mails, and they are trying to expand this
number to 10,000, which is equivalent to 90% of the officials
in the Bavarian government.
The utilization
of PKI is mainly in the Bavarian government, and there are no
plans to expand the use to G2B (Government to Business) or G2C
(Government to Consumer). There is no high expectation over the
utilization of electronic certifications by general citizens,
since it costs thirty euros per year.
1.3 Comments
The progress of e-Government in Germany
is far ahead of Japan, in terms of developments of laws, promotion
frameworks, technologies, etc. However, when it comes to the stage
of expanding utilization of the services, they are facing a lot
of problems:
- The federal government
can’t proceed with the project as their own intention,
because the degree of independence of provincial and municipal
governments is very high.
- When new systems and
frameworks are introduced, legal amendments are also necessary
in many cases.
- While promoting e-Governments,
organizations or people who are involved with the process don’t
want to give up their vested rights.
- Its cost-benefit performance
is not yet clear.
|
| 2
Report on “e-2005” |
2.1 Outline of the Conference
“eChallenges
e-2005” is one of the representative international conferences
in Europe, hosted by the European Commission, etc. Its fifteenth
conference was held for three days on October 19 - 21, in Ljubljana,
the capital of Slovenia. Over 500 participants came and 270 presentations
are made by presenters from 38 countries. The conference was divided
into eight parallel sessions with themes, such as e-Business,
e-Government, Knowledge Management, e-Work, Digital Content and
ICT Challenges. Mr. Noriyuki Yonemura, Counselor of Fuji Xerox
Co., Ltd., from Japan made a keynote speech.
The next “eChallenge e-2006” will be held in Barcelona,
Spain, in autumn, 2006.
2.2 Contents of the Conference
Presentations of projects, including ones
the EU conducts, were given in a panel discussion style. Many
of them were interesting, such as the one multilaterally comparing
the U.S.A. with the EU as the united states. One of the presentations
which attracted people most was “The List of Service Numbers
for Citizens in Europe” by Mr. P. Hendriks. He suggested
making a new theme of projects: how the service numbers for citizens
should be treated in EU.
 |
| “e-2005”
Opening Session |
2.3 Comments
“e-2005” is not a place to
present academic papers, but a place to introduce case examples
and to give opportunities to meet regularly with people who have
common issues. The necessity of these opportunities is not as
high as the EU, which is trying to make the member countries’
borders vague, but I felt that Asian countries also need the same
kind of opportunity.
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Report on “e-Biz Expo 2005” |
|
On November 10 (Thursday) –
12 (Saturday), 2005, “e-Biz Expo 2005,” the biggest
RFID-related exhibition/conference in Korea, was held in Seoul,
Korea. Mr. Eiji Hamanaka, Secretary-General, Mr. Koichi Kataoka,
Deputy Secretary-General, and five research directors from ECOM
attended the expo to interact and exchange information with people
who are involved with EC/RFID. They also visited concerned companies
in Korea. The following are the reports from the research directors:
|
| Holding
of “e-Biz Expo 2005 Conference” |
 |
Mr. Nagaaki Ohyama,
Professor of Tokyo Institute of Technology, gave a keynote
speech |
“e-Biz
Expo 2005 Conference” was held on November 10, 2005. It
is hosted by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy
in Korea, and run by Korea CALS/EC Association (KCALS). ECOM
took part in this conference by dispatching a lecturer from
Japan, etc. After an opening speech by Mr. Dong-Hoon Kim, Vice
Chairman of KCALS, Mr. Eiji Hamanaka, Secretary-General of ECOM,
delivered a congratulatory address, and the conference was started.
In the morning session, Mr. Nagaaki Ohyama, Professor of Tokyo
Institute of Technology, gave a keynote speech on “eID
Initiatives in the Next e-Japan Strategy and its Ripple Effect
in Business Areas,” and he explained the initiatives and
ripple effects to businesses in various areas, such as e-Governments,
healthcare, medical care, welfare, etc., in the framework of
the next “e-Japan Strategies.”
 |
| A
Lecture |
In
the afternoon session, participants were divided into three tracks:
2006 e-Business Outlook (Track 1), Japan-China-Korea e-Business
(Track2), u-Business (RFID/Traceability) (Track 3) and lectures
were made at each track. From Japan, at Track 2, Mr. Kazuhiro
Kawashima, Research Director of ECOM, explained “Information
Economy Outlook 2005” and Mr. Minoru Takahashi, e-Biz Sub
Committee Leader, EC Center, Japan Electronics & Information
Technology Industries Association (JEITA), gave a lecture on “The
Current Situation of e-Business in Japanese Electronic Hardware
Industry and Japan-Korea Joint Projects.” And also, at Track
3, Mr. Akira Sakamoto, General Manager, RFID Business Division,
Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd., explained “The Current Situation
and Case Examples of IC Tags in Japan,” and Masatomo Takemoto,
Research Director of ECOM, introduced the latest trend of RFID
tags in Japan with the title of “Introduction of Field Pilot
Test by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and its Future
Plan.” Lectures were not only from Korea, but also from
the United States and China.
(Mr. Kojun Matsumoto, Research Director, International
Relations Group)
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| ECOM’s
Booth at “e-Biz Expo 2005” |
|
At the venue (COEX)
of “e-Biz Expo 2005,” there were around fifty displays
of activities regarding EDI, BtoB, RFID, etc., by companies, associations,
and universities, including Korean Air, Woori Bank and Hyundai
Information Technology Co., Ltd. E-Learning EXPO was held energetically
in parallel.
At ECOM’s
booth, panels were set to introduce the founding objectives, organization,
activities and a full list of ECOM members. In addition, with
movies on a plasma display TV, we introduced our members, activities,
and collaborative activities, mainly between Japan, China and
Korea. Hundreds of people visited the ECOM’s booth in the
three days, and showed their interests toward electronic commerce
in Japan.
A
questionnaire survey was conducted at our booth and the venue.
We researched the awareness of Korean visitors toward electronic
commerce. In the three days, 122 responses were collected. We
received comments, such as “It takes time for products to
be delivered,” “Lack of personal information protection,”
etc. We found a need to compare electronic commerce environments
in Japan and Korea.
(Mr. Kazuhiro Kawashima, Research Director, Public Relations
Group)
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| Company
Visits |
During the “e-Biz
Expo 2005,” under the cooperation of KCALS, we gained an
opportunity, as a joint project of ECOM and KCALS, to visit RFID-related
companies in Korea and observe the progress of RFID field pilot
tests.
One of
the RFID-related companies we visited is InkTec Co., Ltd., which
was established in 1992 as a venture company. In May, 2005, they
developed and announced “Printable Electronic Ink”
as an advanced electronic material. In July, 2005, their project
was selected as a “Parts and Materials Technology Development
Project” of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy
in Korea. They are trying to bring the ink to markets of RFID
antennas, etc. Their second plant is scheduled to be inaugurated
in February, 2006. They are on the way to expanding their business
further.
We received
explanations on two examples of field pilot tests. The first example
was the pilot test, promoted mainly by National Veterinary Research
Quarantine Service, which is being implemented for eight months
from this May to the end of this year, 2005. The project uses
RFID technologies to manage histories of imported beef and to
trace information, including place of origin, locations, routes,
quarantine, etc. It is recognized as one of the IT Technologies
Model Projects. They will work on development of an information
disclosure system to consumers through the Internet, etc.
The second
example was a joint pilot project of the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism and the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Energy. The
project uses RFID, whose implementation system test has been carried
out, for history tracing and as the certification system of production,
distribution and sales of craft products. Its purpose is to solve
problems regarding replicas and countless unidentified knockoffs,
by using item-classified serial numbers. The project is one of
the representative and successful examples of inter-ministry collaboration
between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Ministry
of Commerce, Industry & Energy.
The 900
MHz bandwidth was used in both pilot tests. An issue for the first
test is that the cost of tags should be lowered for diffusion,
and one for the second test is that tags are applicable only to
the craft products of the price above a certain level. They are
planning to bring up their systems at any occasion like international
conferences to discuss various issues, including the certification
problem, with the involving organizations in each country.
(Mr. Haruo Muto, Research Director, International Relations
Group)
*This project was jointly implemented
by the JIPDEC / Electronic Commerce Promotion Center and the Next
Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, based
on subsidies from the Japan Keirin Association.
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|
Report on the “47th
ISO/TC184/SC4 International Conference” |
|
ISO/TC184/SC4 is engaged in developing
standards for showing various kinds of data to be handled in
the overall product life cycle, by means of standard data models
based on computer calculation processing.
Below is a report on participation in
the international conference by Mr. Shin-ichi Yoshioka, Research
Director of JIPDEC/Electronic Commerce Promotion Center (JIPDEC/ECPC).
It is a report on STEP-related activities, which were implemented by
ECOM until FY 2004 and is now being carried out in FY 2005 by JIPDEC/ECPC.
From October 16 to October 21, 2005,
the 47th ISO/TC184/SC4 international conference was held in
Hangzhou, China, in which I participated as a member of the
Japanese delegation. It was a considerably smaller conference
with approximately sixty participants than the conference in
Spain, which was held this June. Hangzhou, in which the conference
was held, is located southwest to Shanghai as a center of economic
development in China and is recording a remarkably high economic
growth. It also vividly retains historical remnants of the capital
of Southern Song. Following the SC4 conference, the plenary
meeting of ISO/TC 184 started in Beijing from October 24. My
impression is that, in Hangzhou, intensive promotion activities
for multi-layered industrial development are being carried out,
including the scheduled holding of an international tourism
exhibition in 2006.
The outline of deliberations at the SC4 international conference
is as follows.
The PDQ-S (Product Data Quality-Shape)
international standard development that Japan proposed was approved,
and full-fledged deliberations started. This issue was very
earnestly deliberated at a joint conference in which experts
of WG3/T1 and WG12 participated, and a resolution was passed
on the installation of Professor Hiroyuki Hiraoka, Chuo University,
as a leader of the PDQ-S standard development project. It was
also decided that a task force in charge of strategic planning
on overall PDQ standardization would start full-fledged deliberations
from the next conference.
The SC4 chair presented the following:
an approval to the international standardization of ISO13584-501
(Dictionaries for Measuring Instruments) that Japan proposed,
and an approval by ISO/TMB (Technical Management Board), in
accordance with a recommendation by SC4, to the establishment
of RA (Registration Authorities) based on ISO13584-501 within
JEMIMA (Japan Electric Measuring Instruments Manufacturers’
Association).
Many of the international standard development
projects, such as ISO10303-111 and ISO10303-240 in which Japanese
experts have been deeply involved, are about to be completed.
On the other hand, the United States, European countries and
Korea are still positively making standardization proposals
one after another. At this conference, much time was spent in
particular for deliberating and adjusting ISO8000 (Catalogue
Management System: Requirements) and ISO22745 (Open Technical
Dictionary) that the United States proposed. As a result, a
resolution was passed on continued ISO22745 deliberations by
WG12. We need to keep a close watch on these standards in the
future because they have a delicate impact on the industrial
world.
An intensive discussion was made on
ISO13584-511 (Reference Dictionary for Fasteners), a standard
for which China has been serving as a standardization project
leader for the first time, and a work schedule was presented
toward the issue of an international standard next year. Likewise,
a technical examination was completed on ISO10303-112, a standard
for which Korea has been serving as a standardization project
leader for the first time, and an agreement was made on an international
voting as DIS (Draft International Standard).
In addition, a proposal was made on
activities based on e-learning, mainly by the Education and
Outreach Committee, which was established to make a breakthrough
against the insufficient diffusion of standards that have been
developed by SC4 in the industrial world compared with expected
results at the beginning, and it was decided that the activities
would start in line with the next conference in Italy.
The latest progress of SCADEC, which
is a project for promoting standardization of CAD data exchange
in the area of construction in Japan, especially in public works
that have been mainly advanced by the Ministry of Land Infrastructure
and Transport of Japan, was reported at a SC4 construction meeting
(WG3/T22) because standards that have been developed by SC4
are used for the project.
SC4 is engaged in developing product
information model standards, each of which covers thousands
of pages, and it is necessary to realize interoperability among
product information model standards. For this purpose, SC4 is
promoting the computerization (html) of standard documents and
has started to modularize standards. The first version of modularized
standards was issued in October. Deliberations are being made
toward the establishment of a module standard development method
and continued efforts are being made to increase efficiency
in standard development and improve quality.
A preliminary explanatory meeting was
held mainly by Korea and Germany on the development of new information
model standards in the area of construction, in which a presentation
was made on the vision of the development of modularized standards.
*As one of the projects commissioned by
Japanese Standards Association, this project was jointly implemented
by the JIPDEC / Electronic Commerce Promotion Center and the Next
Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council of Japan, based on
subsidies from the Japan Keirin Association
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“NIKKEI MONOZUKURI
(Manufacturing) Business Seminar: the Latest PDQ (Product Data Quality)
Situation and Advanced Cases” |
|
Below is a report by Mr. Shin-ichi
Yoshioka, Research Director of JIPDEC/Electronic Commerce Promotion
Center(JIPDEC/ECPC), on a seminar hosted by “NIKKEI MONOZUKURI
” in cooperation with JIPDEC/ECPC.
On October 13, 2005, the “NIKKEI
MONOZUKURI (Manufacturing) Business Seminar: the Latest PDQ
Situation and Advanced Cases” was held at the Tokyo Conference
Center Iidabashi in cooperation with JIPDEC/ECPC, in which 80-odd
people participated.
The presentations at the seminar were
as follows: PDQ activities by JAMA/JAPIA PDQ Standardization
WG that mainly consist of members from the Japan Automobile
Manufacturers Association, Inc. (JAMA) and Japan Auto Parts
Industries Association (JAPIA), the progress of the PDQ international
standard development project by JIPDEC in ISO/TC184/SC4, efforts
for PDQ by JAMA, JAPIA and related parties in the mold-making
industry and case examples, and a panel discussion by related
parties.
Mr. Kazuharu Taga, Chair of the PDQ
Standardization-Maintenance/ Development /Promotion-WG of JAMA/JAPIA,
made a presentation on the current status of failures and the
start of an examination based on the application of PDQ in three-dimensional
design data by companies participating in JAMA.
Professor Hiroyuki Hiraoka, Chuo University,
who is a leader of the PDQ international standard development
project at ISO/TC184/SC4, explained an application scenario
of an international standard draft that is under review and
its logical structure.
Mr. Noriyuki Hiratsuka, Mitsubishi Motors
Corporation, presented the current status of the application
of PDQ guideline by Japanese automobile manufacturing companies
and a case in which, as a result of complete application of
PDQ to operations, a company succeeded in reducing by 95% the
occurrence of PDQ defects that would stop operations.
Mr. Mitsuo Ogata, Stanley Electric Co.,
Ltd., introduced activity experiences to improve PDQ in auto
parts manufacturers; based on his own experiences, he explained
the difficulty of obtaining results without more efforts than
only the introduction of tools, the necessity of developing
educational activities and the importance of creating an easy-to-use
system for persons in charge.
Mr. Kiyoyuki Iwakabe, NDE Digi-tech,
Inc., presented the results of a questionnaire survey on the
recognition level of the PDQ guideline in the mold-making industry,
which was conducted by JIPDEC/ECPC in FY 2004. He pointed out
the high recognition level of problems with three-dimensional
design data and the low recognition level of the JAMA/JAPIA
PDQ guideline, and explained the necessity of further developing
diffusion activities, limitations of the current PDQ activities
and future problems.
Last of all, a panel discussion was
made by the above-mentioned lecturers as well as Mr. Akihiko
Ohtaka, Nihon Unisys, Ltd., and Mr. Atsuto Soma, Elysium Co.,
Ltd. In the panel discussion, it was pointed out again that
PDQ problems have become obvious because data of three-dimensional
CAD, which is an application that has been developed and used
for individual operations and products, are exchanged and reused.
It was also indicated that it takes a considerable time for
PDQ problems to become obvious after data origination processes.
For this reason, it is difficult for application developers
of three-dimensional CAD, etc., to identify true causes of the
problems. In other words, for application developers, there
are very few inducements to PDQ problem solving; what are important
are expression of users’ concerns and implementation of
immediate avoidance measures.
For the purpose of reducing expenses
accrued due to lack of data quality in the current manufacturing
industry, it is necessary in the first place to develop diffusion
activities for the wide recognition of problems. In general,
in the manufacturing industry, one product is manufactured based
on relationships among diversified companies. It is rare that
a specified company independently covers all processes of “manufacturing”
of products. In some cases, more than ten companies share design
and manufacturing processes just to manufacture one part. Product
information transferred among these companies is generally prepared
by means of three-dimensional CAD, in order to realize performance
evaluation simulations on computers.
Requirements for data are being sophisticated
to meet this sophisticated demand. For this reason, the quality
of three-dimensional CAD data is important. Computers are tools
for correctly processing input data. If there are problems with
the quality of input data, problems with the results of processing
will naturally occur.
The manufacturing industry in the midst
of global economic activities is exposed to global competitions
while it has to accept product liabilities. Now that suppliers
of equipment, materials and parts that are necessary for production
as well as buyers of products are spread all over the world,
it is necessary to understand and widely announce these problems.
International standardization is a very efficient measure for
this purpose, and we can expect it to accelerate problem solving.
I would like you to face up to the reality that problems that
were unknown in the past are being internationally recognized
and to adequately respond to the problems in individual corporate
activities.
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From the Secretary-General |
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|
On November 30, the fourth planning committee
in FY 2005 was held at Awazu Plant (Komatsu city, Ishikawa prefecture)
of Komatsu Ltd. (ECOM board member). In addition to debriefing
and question-and-answer sessions on the progress of ECOM activities
in FY 2005, we made a tour of the plant, which is the field site
of the RFID tags field pilot project for FY 2004 by the Ministry
of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Though it has been a while since we had
the last plant tour for board members in March, 2003 (Motomachi
Plant of TOYOTA Motor Corporation), participants were expressing
their satisfaction by saying that they had a quite meaningful
time. We deeply appreciate that people of Komatsu Ltd. (from headquarters
and Awazu plant) gave us this great opportunity.
The Next Generation Electronic Commerce
Promotion Council of Japan was established to carry out activities
in a three year-period. We are now about to start to discuss descriptions
of business in concrete form, for the second and the third year
(FY 2006 and FY 2007). As we will discuss them in planning committees
and working groups, which start from the end of this year, we
always welcome ECOM members to bring up any opinions and requirements
without any hesitation.
(Hamanaka)
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ECOM News No. 8
Issue Date: November 30, 2005
Issuer: Next Generation Electronic Commerce Promotion Council
of Japan
Kikai Shinko Kaikan Bldg 3F
3-5-8, Shibakoen, Minato-ku Tokyo 105-0011, Japan
Tel: +81-3-3436-7500, Fax: +81-3-3436-7570
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