午夜剧场

Since 1984, I have been leading a project called TRON to realize a world where numerous computers are embedded in our living environment and work together via networks to assist humans—what we now call the Internet of Things (IoT). As part of this project, I have been researching and developing real-time OS standards and making them open, including source code, to improve the efficiency of diverse embedded device development and accelerate innovation.

I take pride in the fact that the results of the TRON project supported the development of Japanese home appliances, automobiles, and mobile phones, contributing to their competitive advantage. However, in the process of advancing these activities, TRON also became involved in corporate business models and national industrial policies. It was even caught up in Japan-U.S. trade friction and considered a candidate for Super 301 sanctions. The lesson I learned from these experiences, which went beyond the university laboratory, is that in the field of ICT, it is not just pure technology that matters; institutional design and business models—fields typically associated with the humanities—are just as important as, if not more important than, technical design.

Japan once boasted of being an "electronic nation," but it has declined because it failed to respond to the wave of open innovation brought about by the emergence of the internet, the very heart of that field. What I felt during that process was Japan's structural problem: an inability to design the future with the "two wheels of technology and institutions" and a resistance to being "open" due to a strong desire for zero risk and a guarantee-oriented mindset. The fact that it is only now establishing a "Digital Agency" and realizing the necessity of various uses for a "National ID" due to the COVID-19 pandemic is a typical example of this.

"DX" is a structural reform that fundamentally changes organizations and methods to respond to the open innovation made possible by digital technology and the internet. DX is impossible without that understanding. How should we carry out structural reform, and as a prerequisite, how should we change our mindset? This book discusses the philosophical aspects of DX based on the problems in Japan that I have found frustrating while continuing the TRON project for many years. Rather than focusing on the technical aspects of DX, I would be happy if this book were read by those interested in why DX cannot be achieved with technology alone and what needs to be done to move beyond that.

Ken Sakamura

Kadokawa Shinsho

248 pages, 990 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.