### 4. Development of ICT personnel

## (1) Fostering advanced ICT personnel

To encourage the development of experts at higher education institutions in a wide range of fields requiring ICT technology, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is developing a distance-learning system using advanced network technology over the period from FY 2009 to FY 2011 and, once the system is completed, plans to promote the system's adoption by higher education institutions in partnership with NGOs and other private organizations. From FY 2011, the Ministry will develop a personnel training curriculum for advanced ICT applications (including course outlines, teaching guidelines, and teaching material development guidelines) while using knowledge from related organizations with the objective of raising ICT application skill levels in cloud environments.

## (2) Improving ICT literacy

Familiarizing children, who will lead Japan’s next generation, with ICT at an early age and raising their information application skills is extremely important to the construction of a society that is able to create new intellectual value and cultural value. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is taking steps in this area, including promoting e-Net Caravans and improving media literacy.

### 5. Promotion of telework

Telework is a flexible working arrangement independent of time or location that makes use of ICT. Telework is expected to help resolve a number of challenges, such as a declining birthrate and aging population and regional stimulation, and boost work efficiencies and productivities while improving work-life balance. It is also expected to be an effective means of implementing business continuity plans in the event of large-scale disaster or pandemic, conserving energy, and reducing the impact on the environment.

After the recent Great East Japan Earthquake, there were many examples seen in the Kanto Region of people who could not make it to work because of public transit disruptions continuing their assignments by telework. And an increasing number of corporations are planning or considering adopting telework as means of conserving energy this summer.

### 6. Promotion of ICT application in the healthcare field

Our healthcare field faces numerous challenges, from the burgeoning patient numbers and national healthcare expenditures caused by a rapidly declining birthrate and aging population and the collapse of regional medicine due to a lack or uneven distribution of doctors to the changes in lifestyles and disease patterns and the changes in patient needs. The expectations are high for ICT applications to resolve these challenges and assist the provision of healthcare services that make effective use of limited resources to handle increasing patient numbers and changing needs.

It is important to effectively promote the application of ICT in the healthcare field, including addressing challenges at the system level, while validating the effectiveness and safety of ICT in partnership with related ministries and agencies. Examples of ICT's benefits in this field can be found in the wake of March 2011's Great East Japan Earthquake. For example, one hospital that had lost all its paper clinical records in the tsunami and whose electronic clinical records server was down was still able to restore its patients' medical records quickly because it had shared its clinical record information with a hospital in another prefecture. Thus, it is necessary to give full regard to initiatives that combine reconstruction measures and earthquake measures, such as promoting electronic health record (EHR) platforms in disaster-struck areas.

### 7. ICT contributions to combating global warming

As the severity of global warming has intensified in the past few years, ICT is expected to contribute to initiatives to curb global warming by making business operations more efficient along with making large contributions to the establishment of a safe and secure society, to improved convenience, and to the revitalization of regional economies. At the same time, the increase in ICT device numbers and the greater power consumption by more powerful ICT device features must be balanced against global warming considerations.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, in the aftermath of the March 13, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake, is now examining the proactive application of smart grids and other green ICT to push ahead regional energy-conservation measures in view of power shortages and reconstruction measures for the afflicted areas.