Japan’s Preference Towards Society 5.0
Pankhuri Gaur, Assistant Professor, RIS
The
developing countries are embarking on the Industry 4.0 (I4) to strengthening
their manufacturing capabilities, and a new concept of Society 5.0 (S5) has
emerged in recent years, which would be useful at present with increasing
number of COVID-19 variants and frequency of lockdowns. The notion of S5 aims
at focusing on a human centric society with greater degree of convergence of
Cyber-Physical System while balancing between the economic growth and social
and environmental problems. It was first proposed in the 5th Science and Technology Basic Plan by Japan in
2016 and subsequently adopted by the Japanese Cabinet[i]. It was further discussed in the G-20 Summit in 2019 at
the B20 Summit. The S5 aims at creating new values to human beings using
advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things
(IoT), robotics, big data and other technologies falling under I4.
Society 5.0 is identified as the fifth stage of
societal innovation, preceded by Information Society (S4), Industrial Society
(S3), Agrarian Society (S2), and Hunting Society (S1)[ii]. A leap in S5 from its
predecessor (Information Society) refers to the fact that the latter would
provide information stored in the cyberspace which can be subjected to further exploration
and examination. However, in case of S5, information is stored in cyberspace
through sensors in physical space which is analysed by artificial intelligence,
exceeding human potential and competence, and results are provided to the
humans in the physical space. This automation of the entire process results in
minimizing human involvement and their efforts and hence, reducing work-hours
in the whole process.
Super-Smart Society (or S5) focuses on using I4
technologies into the niche areas of the economy like healthcare, environment,
agriculture, trade and manufacturing, energy, etc. A major difference between
I4 and S5 is that while the former is a revolution for the industry and services
sector, latter is an evolution for a human-centric society, which harmonises
work pressure and benefits people[iii]. I4 focuses on simplifying
the method of doing a job, whereas S5 aims at minimizing the human effort and
man-hours to undertake the job. S5 is going a step-ahead of I4 to a
super-intelligent society, beyond industry transformation, to contribute to
economic, social and environmental welfare while maintaining human centrality
in the process.
Japan being a developed nation, faces multiple challenges
with stagnant economic growth. With low birth rate, ageing population and
infrastructure, reduction in labour force, local de-population and frequent
occurrence of natural disasters, Japanese economy is expected to be burdened
with a number of problems relating to work force participation and production[iv]. As a solution to these
problems, Japanese government came up with its Science Technology Innovation
(STI) policy of Society 5.0, centered on humans and surrounded by I4
technologies with integration of virtual and real space. It further aims at
achieving the SDGs through S5 and has identified areas such as infrastructure,
healthcare, finance technology, logistics and artificial intelligence as its
pillars.
Japan aims at delivering goods and services at the
doorstep of the consumers using intelligent transport systems and automation
technology. There could be several examples to present relevance of S5 in the
society. For instance, consumers would be able to choose the fabric, colour and
size of products and it would be delivered from the garment industry. Machines
like refrigerators would monitor food stocked to prevent food allergies and
reduce waste. Use of big data for weather, crop and market information and
application of AI and automatic tractors to toil the field, etc., would boost
the agricultural production with replacement of retiring workers. Through I4,
S5 may provide information on disaster prevention, status of power plant,
charging and discharging of Electric Vehicles, etc. and enhance energy
efficiency in households.
Japanese government has released country’s Growth Strategy
for 2017, providing specific plans for Society 5.0. The Japanese cabinet has
approved “Investment for Future Strategy 2017” and emphasized on S5 to
materialize the country's medium and long term growth[v]. Other than the
government, the private sector is also playing an equally important role in
adapting and promoting S5 in the country. Keidanren has introduced delivery of
SDGs through S5 in its charter and promoted Super-Smart Society in its policy
proposal in 2016[vi].
Major companies like Hitachi, Panasonic, Toyota, NEC, Fujitsu, etc. have also
introduced S5 in their business strategies. A collaborative effort is underway
by the government, industry, academia and society to achieve Super-Smart
Society in Japan.
Having advantages of technology and innovation with
free flow of data, Japan is already in the process of transforming its society
into S5 with a huge collection of data for the cyber space and planning to
liberalise existing regulations for digital technologies. But relevance of such
STI policy of Japan for developing countries is subjected to further scrutiny,
where these countries are already facing challenges of unemployment, limited
access to resources and high-end technologies, high cost of technology, less
skilled labour and limited or no policy available for data security. The
concept of S5 is highly dependent on technologies used in I4 and until
developing countries are acquainted with such technologies, achieving S5 for
developing countries may be an elusive target. The societal problems that Japan
facing now, is not a standard situation for all countries in the developing
world.
[i]
Cabinet Office (Council for Science, Technology and Innovation). (2016). The
5th Science and Technology Basic Plan.
https://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/basic/5thbasicplan.pdf
[ii]
Hitachi-UTokyo Laboratory (H-UTokyo Lab.). (2020). Society 5.0 A People-centric
Super-smart Society. SpringerOpen. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2989-4
[iii]
Pereira, A. G., Lima, T. M., & Charrua-Santos, F. (2020). Industry 4.0 and
Society 5.0: opportunities and threats. International Journal of Recent
Technology and Engineering, 8(5), 3305-3308.
[iv]
Fukuda, K. (2020). Science, technology and innovation ecosystem transformation
toward society 5.0. International journal of production economics, 220, 107460.
[v]
Fukuyama, M. (2018). Society 5.0: Aiming for a new human-centered society. Japan
Spotlight, 27, 47-50.
[vi]
Carraz, R., & Harayama, Y. (2018). Japan’s innovation systems at the
crossroads: Society 5.0. Digital Asia, 33-45.
[vii]
Onday, O. (2019). Japan’s society 5.0: going beyond
industry 4.0. Business and Economics
Journal, 10(2), 2-7.
[viii] Zengin,
Y.; Naktiyok, S.; Kaygın, E.; Kavak, O.; Topçuo ˘glu, E. An Investigation upon
Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 within the Context of Sustainable Development
Goals. Sustainability 2021, 13, 2682. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052682
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