Tag: Japan

In September 2021, Japan took a leap with the establishment of its Digital Agency and the creation of the government cloud. With the goal to build a society in which no one is left behind by improving convenience, health, and happiness through digital technology, Japan’s Digital Agency represents the nation’s bold commitment to digital innovation across government and society. In June 2024, two cloud engineers from the Digital Agency, Kazuma Takeda and Shinichi Nishihata, shared their process and learnings at the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit Japan, the largest AWS learning event in the country. For those who were unable to attend or watch virtually, this post summarizes their presentation.

Approximately 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation (JAMSS) used an AWS Snowcone SSD onboard the International Space Station (ISS) to quickly and autonomously transmit large volumes of data from space back on the ground into AWS. The AWS Snowcone, which arrived on the ISS in July 2022 as part of the first Axiom Space Mission (Ax-1), is available to power on-orbit data processing experiments for researchers, students, and scientific organizations.

In the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) 2022 Digital Competitiveness Index, Japan ranked 29th out of 63 countries, down one place from last year’s ranking. A 2021 white paper on information and communications by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications highlighted the gap between urban and rural digital transformation initiatives in Japan, with urban areas making more progress and local areas lagging behind. There is an urgent need to accelerate digital transformation across Japan to maintain and strengthen Japan’s competitiveness. Learn about local best practices in digital innovation across seven regions of Japan.

At AWS, we are committed to supporting Japan’s digital transformation (DX) ambition by helping Japanese customers modernize IT and innovate securely at pace, driving sustainable economic growth. I’m humbled to share that since 2011, AWS has invested ¥1.35 trillion in total capital and operational expenditure associated with our two AWS infrastructure Regions in the country. Learn more about AWS’s economic impact in Japan, as well as how AWS supports Japan’s sustainability efforts, digital talent, security and sovereignty needs, and more.

Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), is a Nobel Award-winning Inter-University Research Institute, and one of the world’s leading accelerator research institutes. To further help researchers understand human biology, AWS and KEK recently announced a collaboration to develop GoToCloud, a KEK-led cloud platform that makes protein analysis faster and more cost-effective, boosting KEK’s research efforts and improving our understanding of disease. This initiative has also accelerated the digital transformation of Japan’s scientific research infrastructure, helping scientists discover new medicines and produce world-class research results using cloud technology.

AWS announced that the AWS Startup Ramp is now available in Japan to support entrepreneurs delivering modern products and services in government, civic technology, smart cities, healthcare, agriculture, and space technology, as well as disaster prevention and resilience. AWS Startup Ramp provides startup and their teams with training and support, networking, and AWS credits to address challenges in serving public sector customers and accelerate public sector innovation. Now, early-stage startup teams across the Asia-Pacific Region can apply to the first AWS Startup Ramp cohort before applications close April 7, 2022.

To better understand the challenges and opportunities in digital healthcare adoption, think tank ACCESS Health International and the AWS Institute conducted research across 12 countries in the Asia Pacific in order to understand government and industry perspectives on cloud adoption for public healthcare. The findings are presented in the “Overcoming Barriers to Cloud Adoption in Public Healthcare in the Asia-Pacific” report. Read on for a summary of the research’s key findings.

The Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region is riding a wave of innovation, which relies heavily on a digital workforce equipped to meet the rising demand for cloud computing. Today, AWS announced that we have trained more than two million people across APJ with cloud skills in the past decade. To accelerate this, we launched AWS Skill Builder, a digital learning experience available in more than 200 countries and territories, which will provide free skills training to millions of people around the world, in addition to other training programs.

The Japan Digital Agency (DA) has selected Amazon Web Services (AWS) as one of the cloud service providers that support Government Cloud, which delivers common cloud infrastructure that central government agencies, local governments, and other government organisations can use. As a cloud services provider directly contracted with the DA, AWS will help the Japanese government modernize IT by directly offering advanced technologies and global best practices to help customers innovate securely at pace.

The AWS Startup Ramp is a program for early-stage startups building solutions in health, digital government, smart cities, agriculture, and space technology, and is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs as they build, launch, and grow. AWS Startup Ramp works to remove barriers for entrepreneurs who want to make an impact in the public sector by providing technical design and architecture reviews, mentorship, credits, and support with go-to-market plans to help navigate the complex regulatory and security requirements in the public sector.