Chief Information Officer for e-Government in Japan with Lessons from International Survey of e-Government Ranking
  • Seminar
  • Auditorium of the Administration Building, Macao, China
  • 29 April 2009

Prof. Toshio Obi

Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies (GITS)
Waseda University, Tokyo

Japan

Professor Toshio Obi received Master degree from Keio University and PhD from Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan. He was an Executive Assistant to the Minister of Labor, Government of Japan, and then worked for the Economist, UNDP, Research Associates, and Columbia University. Currently, he is the Director of E-government Institute and Professor of the Graduate School of Global Information & Telecommunication Studies in Waseda University. He also holds positions at various international and national organizations - Chairman of E-government Promotion Council, Government of Japan; Chair of ITU CoE Management Committee in Asia and Pacific; Director of APEC e-Government Research Center; and Chair of UNESCO UNITWIN Program on disaster reduction education. Professor Obi researches in the fields of e-Government, International ICT policy, CIO, ITU-related issues and e-governance. His many publications include [Global e-Governance] (IOS Press, 2006) and [CIO] (Tokyo Univ. Press, 2007).

Nowadays, e-Government has become an integral part of Information Society, providing more convenient, friendly, transparent and inexpensive interaction between government and citizens. E-Government involves fundamental transformation of public administration processes to ensure efficient government management by improvement of interactions with business, citizens and within the government agencies. Such transformation is very challenging and requires an innovative approach to technology management that would facilitate organizational, social, economic, and political innovations.

This presentation intends to highlight Japanese e-Government policy initiatives. It discusses changing trends in core competences of the government CIO which occur in response to new challenges of e-government implementation in Japan. This presentation also highlights the results of the 2009 World e-Government ranking conducted by Waseda University.