Top > Press Releases > Back Issues > February 2010 > Submit your ideas for Japan’s future IT policy! - Establishment of Japan’s first online policy council of citizens -
Submit your ideas for Japan’s future IT policy!
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) will establish an “Online Policy Council of Citizens” from February 23 to March 15 by means of the METI Idea Box, an interactive website for policy debates. METI will solicit ideas on IT policy from the public on this website.
Debates through the Idea Box will be input to IT policy discussions by the Information Economy Committee of the Industrial Structure Council. METI Idea Box: http://open-meti.go.jp (in Japanese)
1. Online Policy Council of Citizens
METI convened a meeting of the Information Economy Committee of the Industrial Structure Council on February 16 and initiated a discussion on strategies to strengthen the competitiveness of Japan’s electronics and IT industries, directions of advancement of industry by means of IT, and how Japan’s social systems should be reformed on the premise of making good use of IT. The purpose of the discussion is to work toward the sustainable growth of Japan’s economy and solve many other problems in the context of advances in IT and intensifying global competition between countries and between enterprises.
As a result of the meeting, METI decided to establish an “Online Policy Council of Citizens” by means of the Idea Box in order to expand this discussion and solicit public ideas on IT policy. The outcome of debates through the Idea Box will be input to discussions by the Information Economy Committee.
2. What is the METI Idea Box?
The Idea Box offers a system through which people can participate in online discussions by (1) posting new ideas, (2) writing comments on ideas posted by others, and (3) voting for or against posted ideas.
In October 2009, METI conducted a demonstration experiment in which opinions on e-government were solicited on the Idea Box website. During this experiment, the website received about 0.7 million page views, 1,706 postings of ideas and comments, and 7,041 votes.
The Idea Box website reopened today (http://open-meti.go.jp) (in Japanese). METI strongly hopes that many people will visit it and participate. (Until February 22, the site accepts user registrations only.)
Release Date
February 16, 2010
Division in Charge
IT Project Office, Information Policy Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau
