“Practical Guidebook on Data Provision for Fostering Human Resources of Experts in AI and Data Science” Formulated

1. Background

The AI Strategy 2019 explains the need for Japanese companies to dramatically improve their productivity through making use of AI technology as all industries across Japan are required to significantly enhance productivity. Against this backdrop, Japanese companies need to foster human resources with the ability to successfully introduce AI. To achieve this end, they should make use of educational materials containing actual data of leading companies and develop environments in which these leading companies can smoothly provide such data to other companies. For helping companies to develop such environments, METI considers it effective to organize points of contention as practical challenges in such data provision and to present to companies future directions to solve such challenges.

2. Past efforts

In light of this situation, METI held a series of meetings of the Study Group on Promotion of Data Provision between Companies to Foster Human Resources of Experts in AI. The study group focused on efforts contributing to companies’ fostering of such human resources, in particular, efforts involving provision and receipt of data between three or more related parties, and then it organized and studied points of contention concerning provision, receipt and utilization of data, which are bases of educational materials. Following this, METI compiled the results of discussions into a Practical Guidebook on Data Provision for Fostering Human Resources of Experts in AI and Data Science (hereinafter referred to as the “guidebook”).

3. Overview of the guidebook

The guidebook offers four well-organized categories of companies’ efforts for fostering human resources from the perspectives of helping companies to increase profits and decrease risks. Based on this, it focuses on challenges that data providers and data receivers are facing in practical matters, organizes and explains points of contention concerning such challenges by referring to model contracts for the respective categories, and presents approaches thereto.
Target users of the guidebook and how to use it are shown below. In the meantime, the guidebook presents information to which companies can refer not only in projects for fostering human resources but also in data provision between companies in general.

(1) How to use the guidebook for data providers (target users: private companies)

• As the guidebook presents well-organized, practical points of contention and approaches in model contracts, it is expected to encourage users to provide data with clear understanding of risks.
• By understanding the advantage shown in each category, it is expected to smoothly discuss approaches for the providers to appropriate data provision for their companies.

(2) How to use the guidebook for data receivers (target users: developers of educational materials, operators of hackathons, educational organizations, etc.)

• As the guidebook presents model contracts as a benchmarks, users are expected to smoothly advance negotiations with data providers.

Related document

• Practical Guidebook on Data Provision for Fostering Human Resources of Experts in AI and Data Science (in Japanese) (PDF:1,046KB)

Division in Charge

IT Innovation Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau