but also individual investment, small and medium enterprises (EC stores etc.) and venture corporations, which start up of new businesses, by enabling progress towards the provision of optimized services. In Japan and other developed countries the financial sector is pressing ahead with the publication of bank APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), known as “open API.” Open API facilitates the safe and secure utilization of information owned by banks by FinTech corporations, and it is anticipated that it will lead to expansion within new accounting services such as account management and electronic money transfers, etc. In Japan, proposals revising the Banking Act were passed in May 2017. These promote open innovation within financial agencies and FinTech corporations, while protecting users, and it is anticipated that these activities will continue to accelerate in the future.

## Section 2 Initiatives and Challenges for the 4th Industrial Revolution

In this section, we introduce some of the wider issues and measures being taken in regard to the 4th Industrial Revolution. For example, we perform an international comparison, such as issues considered to present restrictions by corporations introducing IoT looking at in-house internal factors, and external factors, such as systems and infrastructure, etc. In addition to this, a survey of domestic companies was collated, with general companies and ITAC companies, implementing innovative measures, considered separately, and analyzed.

### 1. Corporate Awareness of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and Measures Being Taken

In this section, we provide a comparative overview of opinions and awareness of the 4th Industrial Revolution among domestic and international companies, and consider the current status quo and future directions.

## (1) Expectations Regarding the 4th Industrial Revolution

Many have commented that the 4th Industrial Revolution, will bring about both reforms in society and changes to industrial structure, but there appears to be a gap between the awareness of individuals and that of corporations in different countries in regard to the level of expectation relating to the shape of society and industry.

In Japan, positive awareness in both individuals and corporations is lower than that overseas, and in particular, that of corporations is lower than that of individuals. In Europe and the US (particularly in the UK and Germany), corporate awareness is high, and it is clear that corporations are playing a leading role (Fig. 3-2-1-1).

Domestic and international companies were asked in what countries, other than their own, they believed the 4th Industrial Revolution would bring about reform. The US was most frequently cited by companies of the UK, Germany and Japan, leaving other countries far behind, which suggests the fact that the US is broadly recog-

Figure 3-2-1-1 Individual and Corporate Expectations of the 4^{th} Industrial Revolution^{19}

$ ^{*} $ Deviation calculated from the results of responses from individuals and corporations in each country.

“Don’t know” responses excluded.

(Source) "Analysis of Industrial Structure in the 4 $ ^{th} $ Industrial Revolution, and Surveys and Research into the Current State of and Outstanding Issues Relating to Developments Relating to IoT/AI," MIC (2017)