The Digital Agency’s proposed budget for FY2020
The Digital Agency’s budget plan for 2023 (Reiwa 5) was made public on the 18th. It was about 495 billion yen. This is 4.9% more than the initial budget for the last fiscal year, which was 472 billion yen.
The Sankei Shimbun said that a new budget of 100 million yen has been set aside for the maintenance of the environment of “Web 3.0 (distributed web)”.
Web 3.0 is an internet that does not have a central hub and instead relies on distributed networks like blockchain.NFTs (non-fungible tokens), crypto assets (virtual currencies), and token-based organisational operations are all examples of use cases (DAO).
Most of the Digital Agency’s budget for fiscal 2011 (about 481 billion yen) goes to “costs related to the development and operation of information systems.” From the previous fiscal year, the budget request for FY2023 asked for an increase of 95.55 billion yen.
The Digital Agency will promote system integration, standardisation, and information coordination. This includes not only its own system, but also the government solution services of each ministry. We will also start making Mynaportal, which is a common platform, easier to use. This will help speed up the unification and standardisation of the core business systems of local governments.
The proposed budget for 2023 now includes “expenses related to the nationwide deployment of digital promotion committee members, etc.” to help people who don’t know much about digital devices and services and to promote Web 3.0. There were about 100 million yen given out.
The My Number system was promoted with about 500 million yen, which is the same amount as last year. On the 19th, it put up a website for review that looked at the layout and language of “Mynaportal,” an online window for administrative tasks.
How does the Digital Agency work?
The “Digital Agency,” which started up in September 2021, is a group that is in charge of bringing Japan into the digital age. The Strategy/Organization Group, the Digital Society Common Function Group, the Citizen Service Group, and the Government Service Group make up most of its organisational structure.
According to what the executives of the agency told the Sankei Shimbun, the system needs to be strengthened as soon as possible by adding more staff, since one executive is currently in charge of multiple projects.
In the proposed budget for FY2023, there will be 83 more full-time employees and 133 more part-time employees, most of whom will be digital technology experts from the private sector. . This means that there will be a total of 1,000 workers..
Changes to the Web3 environment
At the end of September, the Digital Agency set up a Web3.0 Study Group to “look more closely at Web3.0’s ideal state for the economy, industry, and society.” There have been about 10 meetings to talk about how to finish the talks by the end of 2022.
At the end of November, the 13th New Capitalism Realization Conference was held at the official home of the Prime Minister. The “Startup Development Five-Year Plan” was decided at this meeting. It included changes to the tax system and the environment related to blockchain technology and Web 3.0 (distributed web).
To encourage collaboration between overseas human resources with advanced technology and specialised knowledge and Japanese startups, we will create an environment where overseas human resources can play an active role, such as by attracting overseas human resources and creating exchange opportunities for domestic and foreign Web 3.0 human resources in partnership with the private sector. Fixing it is the plan.