Publish Information on Free-of-Charge and discounted Support Services Provided by Private Companies as Responses to Novel Coronavirus Disease with Standardized Open Data

1. Outline of the project

The novel coronavirus is having a significant impact on every aspect of Japanese society, as seen in an increasing number of companies implementing teleworking, calling off school classes, and canceling events. In response to these dramatic changes in social environments, companies and other entities have started providing a variety of free-of-charge and discounted services to support the public, e.g., online learning and teleworking. However, most information on these services is only found on the individual websites of these companies, with many people who most need such services unaware of their existence. Moreover, different companies describe their services differently on their websites, meaning that people face difficulties in selecting the most appropriate services.

In light of these circumstances, the Cabinet Secretariat, MIC and METI will inaugurate a new project titled “#Navigation of Information on Private Support Services.” This project aims to standardize the information on free-of-charge and discounted support services provided by private companies in order to publish them in an easily accessible, user-friendly format.

The government will provide industrial associations with standard data forms in which information on support services is to be filled out and request that they encourage their member companies to provide relevant information on their support services. Then, the member companies will input the requested information on their free-of-charge and discounted support services into the forms. The government will aggregate the provided data and publish it on the following website as open data. It will continue to add data whenever it receives it from companies.

The government will provide data by companies in collaboration with a citizen group of engineers that aims to solve social challenges by taking advantage of technologies. This type of group is commonly called a “Civic Tech association (*1).” On March 7, 2020, a variety of activities were simultaneously held worldwide celebrating “International Open Data Day (*2),” and as one of these activities in Japan, Code for Japan (*3), which is one of the Civic Tech associations, created the official website that will be used for searching data on companies’ free services. The personnel in charge of this development from Code for Japan is Mr. Fukuno Taisuke, a Certified Open Data Expert from the Cabinet Secretariat (*4). In line with the start of data publication by the government, Code for Japan launched a search website on March 9, 2020.

The government will encourage a variety of associations to make use of this open data and develop a variety of applications. Moreover, the government will begin creating a search website for information on the government supports responding to the novel coronavirus disease. These websites will contribute to further enriching daily life of the public and business activities admist the dramatic societal change brought by the virus.

Reference: Scheme for compiling information on companies’ free-of-charge services into standard data and publicizing it

Division in Charge

IT Project Office, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau