SOCIETY 5.0 and THE FUTURE OF COMMERCE; E-COMMERCE
Interview given to By Protocol Journal, published on December 15, 2019;
http://www.byprotokol.com/aralik-sayisi
You established the Society 5.0 Institute (Smart Society Association) in August 2017. It is a crucial undertaking considering the fact that Society 5.0 Institute is the first NGO established in Turkey focusing on this subject, and there are very few institutes and think tanks around the world that are active in this field. Could you please share the story of this undertaking? What is “Society 5.0” and the purpose of this Institute?
Society 5.0 represents the “Smart Society” which we have reached as humankind following the previous developmental stages, namely hunting society (Society 1.0), agricultural society (Society 2.0), industrial society (Society 3.0) and information society (Society 4.0). We can define Society 5.0 briefly as “social digital transformation”. We are a society driven by digital technology that has changed not only the way businesses operate but also every aspect of our lives from education to entertainment, from politics to law. In that respect social life must adapt to this transformation while making the best use of these advanced technologies such as robotization, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printers, the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data to balance sustainable economic development and global problems. That is the vision of the Society 5.0 brought forward by Japan.
We established the Society 5.0 Institute with a group of professionals who are specialized on digital transformation, futurism, the philosophy of science and emerging technologies in order to analyze the best practices from all over the world, and produce policy recommendations formulized in accordance with conditions, resources and needs specific to Turkey. Society 5.0 Institute is moving towards becoming a think tank carrying out projects on ways of adapting to lightning speed technological advances. On international scope, we are conducting projects in collaboration with relevant institutions from Japan, UK and the EU at the moment. We are looking forward to sharing their output with the public opinion.
Why is the Society 5.0 vision that important? Could you please elaborate on the importance of social life adapting to digital transformation?
Ever increasing integration of robots and artificial intelligence with production will impact the future of employment immensely. Advanced robotics will serve humankind in many areas. For example, caretaker robots will be widely used in Japan which has an aging population, while robots armed with artificial intelligence and image recognition systems will assist surgeons in order to improve their performance during surgeries. On the other hand, AI and robotics will cause some jobs to disappear and new ones to appear, creating the risk of unemployment for low- and medium-skill jobs through automation. It will be challenging for all societies to sustain living hood with adequate financial resources until upgrading the skill set and competencies of these people and creating new employment opportunities for them. This challenge has been occupying the agenda of leading developed countries for some time, and I believe that concerns about this challenge is the main motive behind current international political economy issues such as trade protectionism and “tech wars”. There is a global race going on among nations to close the gap between the pace of technological developments transforming every aspect of our lives and social adaptation. Countries attach great importance to smart society implementations for getting ready, envisioning the vision of Society 5.0.
This “threat”, which causes concerns for the future of employment, can be turned into an opportunity by increasing quality of education by benefiting from technological advancements, popularizing means of access to information independent of time and space through remote education/mobile education practices.
Surely, “robotization and the future of employment” is only part of the Society 5.0 vision. Issues from a wide spectrum occupy the Society 5.0 agenda such as whom to blame in case of an accident in which autonomous vehicles are involved, ethical questions regarding genetic engineering practices, threat posed by advancements in big data and its processing on privacy of personal information or taxation, legal, and accounting aspects of popularization of cryptocurrencies.
To summarize, Society 5.0 is a vision for balancing the pace of technological advancements with transformation of social life, financial structures, legal systems, working life and business operations. It is a vision of managing the process in a way, blessings of technology are used in order to fulfill the needs of societies and provide the maximum benefit.
Using technology as a tool that serves the wants and needs of humankind rather than taking it as a given is only possible through coordinated management of steps be taken towards smart society. Societies must develop solutions based on their unique needs.
In the Japanese case, we see that all stakeholders came together to develop a national strategy in mutual agreement and implement relevant undertakings through public-private and university-industry partnerships. We also see that bilateral collaborations are emerging at international fora; Japan and India signed first Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Society 5.0 in 2018.
Could you please give us concrete examples of societies using technology in a smart way with Society 5.0 vision?
Blessings of technology offer crucial opportunities for “leap frogging” and provide “shortcuts” for developing countries to achieve higher development and welfare levels. For example, African countries started communicating via mobile phones even before landlines spread throughout the continent; as a result, e-commerce and banking progressed only on mobile medium. Similarly, electronic commerce offers crucial advantages to developing countries, and SMEs which form the basis of their economies, for having a share of international trade beyond their scope and existing alongside their highly competitive challengers. Cross-border e-commerce marketplaces help both SMEs and developing countries to overcome majority of the obstacles hampering their access to international markets and enable them start exporting immediately.
As a female entrepreneur, what would your advice be to the youngsters and women in order to make sure that they can better prepare for a future which is being constantly transformed?
The key for individual preparation is life-long learning and entrepreneurship; we should always release a new version of ourselves and update ourselves regularly.
Technological advancements highlights individuals as much as robots. In this regard, entrepreneurship is important for everyone, especially for women. Women of Society 5.0 are entrepreneurs. Women who wish to have a more active role in smart societies from business life to politics must be up-to-date when it comes to technological advancements; they must research how to create a business plan to commercialize their innovative ideas, and benefit from growing technical and financial supports in this field.
Turkish government has been making crucial reforms in relevant fields and there are exciting initiatives with public-private and university-industry collaborations in areas which you have mentioned as aspects of the Society 5.0 vision. In your opinion, which three policies should be prioritized the most during Society 5.0 practices in Turkey?
In my opinion, top three policy areas for successful realization of “Society 5.0 Turkey vision” are education reform, improving e-export capabilities and increasing the adoption of smart farming practices.
-Implementing educational projects through university-industry collaborations to improve competencies required by the new era, strengthening community-level digital literacy and prioritizing improvement of analytical skills;
-Incentivizing e-export with public-private partnerships in order to ensure better integration of SMEs and female entrepreneurs with global value chains; implementing legal, technical and logistics regulations to facilitate e-export, and
-Increasing the quantity and quality of agricultural products we produce and export through wider adoption of smart farming practices, especially in higher added value products such as halal food, organic food, fair trade products and other “trendy” agri-products whose demand have increased recently as part of changing consumer preferences would provide crucial opportunities for improving economic and social welfare of our country.
