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Technologies in Japan and Singapore 2021

Nishma Mohideen

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Introduction

You might be wondering why Japan and Singapore have been recognized for their fast technological progress throughout the years. This article will offer you a brief but thorough review of the evolution of technologies that have been utilized or created in the past and now.

From vending machines with clothing and shoes to E-TAF automated doors that open and close according to your body form, Japan is a great country. Japan’s young are certainly the wellspring of the country’s technical progress. According to research, the statics prove that among 34 OECD countries the Japanese students perform well in mathematics. Japan has always been seen by the world as a technical wonderland. The widespread of covid 19 has profoundly affected the entire global markets and thus causing disruption in Japan’s R&D situation.

With a worldwide chip shortage in full swing and an ever-increasing desire for new electronic gadgets, many individuals are spending more and more of their work and leisure time at home. As a result, industry participants have shifted gears substantially, resetting the goalposts for 2021.

Information and Communications Technology is combining with new technologies in revolutionary ways that will radically alter how we live. Imagine a world where download speeds are near-zero, information is evaluated in less than a millisecond, food production flows effortlessly from farm to table, and artificial intelligence transforms how we interact with our beautiful planet. Back-end chip makers in Japan are rising to the occasion as global semiconductor demand surges to make this new world feasible. These difficulties are currently being overcome!

Now let us see the topmost popular technologies in Japan 2021.

1. 5G — Japan is a global hub for technological innovation, and 5G is no exception. According to NTT Docomo, a fundamental agreement was reached in February 2021, in collaboration with an international group of other top businesses, to form a consortium to deliver 5G technologies, paving the way for the future. Despite the fact that 5G is still in its early stages, participants hope to benefit from features such as Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). Thailand will be the first country to test the new technology, with commercial services expected to begin in 2022. In Japan, 5G is still a relatively new political subject. In fact, when Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and President Joe Biden met in April to explore deeper collaboration between the two longtime friends, 5G was a hot topic. Japan has committed $218 billion to strengthen digital competitiveness in the development of 5G and beyond 5G technologies.

2. Quantum Computing — Quantum computing is a brave new frontier in terms of digital computing capability, with particles representing qubits simultaneously taking on 0 or 1 valued bits. At this point, translating this processing capacity into viable technologies for practical applications is regrettably theoretical, but Japan is dedicated to investigating through aggressive R&D projects. Fujitsu Limited and the RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing recently launched the RIKEN RQC-Fujitsu Collaboration Center in April with the objective of exploring superconducting quantum computing until at least March 2025, although it is expected to continue after that. Quantum computing has real-world applications in material research, drug development, deeper investigation of physical phenomena, and basic scientific theory, to name a few. The difficult aspect, according to Princeton University researchers, is keeping the quantum particles, or qubits, “alive.” Hopefully, the achievements shortly to be achieved by RIKEN, Fujitsu, and worldwide research partners will allow us to take a quantum leap ahead!

3. Smart Farming — With Japan’s population dwindling and many young people seeking jobs in major cities, ICT businesses are capitalizing on labor shortages in the agriculture sector to deploy smart farming technology. With a food sufficiency percentage of only 37% in 2018, Japan will face significant challenges in achieving its target of 45 percent self-sufficiency. This figure is even more distressing when you realize that the average age of a Japanese farmer is about 67. Despite these obstacles, consistent agricultural policy improvements have been implemented since 2016. Moreover, despite the epidemic, research, and development, as well as the deployment of smart agricultural technology and services, has not slowed. According to a Japan Times story, the government projected the organic food industry in Japan to be worth 185 billion yen in 2017, based on a consumer study. The Yano Research Institute predicts that by 2022, the market would have grown to about 196 million people.

Current agricultural policy reforms, which began in 2016, have pushed ICT businesses like NTT to create NTT Agri Technology in response to government contracts. Through shared data on topics including building, sensing, environmental control/data analysis on animal behavior, maps and topography, and vegetable sales assistance, their in-house system interacts smoothly with NTT Smile Energy, Docomo, and other partner firms. WAGRI, a data-connected platform for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, is now using this information on a government level. WAGRI has two distinct advantages. For starters, a wide range of data is supplied and meticulously kept. Following that, the data is evaluated and coordinated in order to optimize agricultural yields on a yearly basis. This information is gathered using cutting-edge APIs that crunch meteorological, soil, geographic, and growth prediction data. Smart agricultural data-linked platform technology will be a good investment as climate change changes the reliability of yearly crop harvests and adds to aberrant weather patterns. Keep an eye out for this cutting-edge technology!

4. Artificial Intelligence — Artificial intelligence appears to be an efficient new technology in dealing with how to tackle the problems ahead, as climate change drives large data analysis, early detection of anomalous weather patterns, and the rethinking of energy infrastructure. In March 2021, RIKEN, the Research Organization for Information Science and Technology (RIST), and Fujitsu announced the start of shared usage of the Fugaku supercomputer, which is powered by artificial intelligence. Following the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, Fugaku is expected to be utilized for new medication research and development, as well as perform simulations to better predict illness and biological risk factors, using medical big data analysis. This will help the medical sector in the future, as forecasting new health trends will help manage Japan’s aging population and current health concerns caused by changing diets. It’s no secret that Japan has had difficulty in the past predicting large-scale natural catastrophes. Weather patterns may now be more precisely anticipated with Fugaku, as well as mapping probable escape routes via simulation in the case of an earthquake or tsunami. Without a question, if this shows promise, it has the potential to save countless lives and billions of dollars in economic damage if properly handled.

With the government committing to make Japan carbon neutral by 2050, the green energy industry in Japan is a safe bet. The good news is that new artificial intelligence supercomputing will pave the way for the creation of next-generation electric vehicles, fuel cells, and solar batteries, among other things. Search for “Japan SDGs” to discover more about Japan’s commitment to a more sustainable future!

5. Semiconductors — In addition to the technical progress of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the need for semiconductors has also increased. In the Japan Times, big car manufacturers have been compelled to decrease worldwide output since the beginning of 2021, resulting in a possible loss in sales for the industry of $60 billion. However, smaller Japanese makers of back-end chips are fast increasing to satisfy global demand, with stocks in certain firms growing in certain cases to 78 percent. Halbleiter testing equipment and automation systems for semiconductor testing equipment are also not just in great demand. The more automated the manufacturing process over time using the robots, the more successful the process is, and the danger of human contamination is minimized. To date, the Japanese immunization procedure for COVID has been slower, vaccinating just 2% of the general population. To minimize the probable spread of the virus, this is a smart investment in keeping on-site personnel numbers small!

The potential for 2021 is one year different from any other and many firms are still relieved of the shock that arose in 2020. Our selection of the five most popular ICT technologies in Japan in 2021 shows that the potential success in transforming sectors remains, notwithstanding the worldwide pandemic. As Japan’s tech industry continues to experience the impacts of the fourth industrial revolution, its effects will permanently change the contemporary business world and Japan has a very good opportunity to rebound in its ambitions and to fill the gap in the global chip market. Time will tell how these new technologies may successfully be absorbed into Japanese culture. One thing is constant, though, and now is the future.

Technologies in Singapore 2021

Following the current epidemic, firms worldwide must adapt and develop new technology trends that either prevent the collapse or make the most of the situation in Covid 19. The article highlights some of the key technology developments for companies across Singapore in 2021. Singapore is Asia’s technology innovation capital. Singapore is in the top ten nations in the world for innovation, according to the Global Innovation Index 2020 (released by WIPO, INSEAD, and Cornell University). It is rated eighth, with the Republic of Korea not far behind at number ten. Only two Asian nations made it into the top ten, with Singapore being a common name at the top of the GII rankings. In Singapore, the demand for Digital Transformation among enterprises, particularly SME’s, has become an urgent necessity. While most businesses have basic digital transformation procedures in place, some are embracing it as we speak. The main technology trends that Singapore businesses should be prepared for in 2021 are described below. Technological advancements are reshaping how we think, organize, and strategize. Workplaces and their operations can be revolutionized by technological developments. As firms learn to embrace the trends listed below, they will have a major influence not only in Singapore but across the world.

1. Blockchain — Blockchain is one of the top technology trends for Singapore in 2021. According to The Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report 2020, blockchain has emerged as one of the top technology trends for Singapore in 2021. Approximately 70% of respondents consider blockchain to be the most important technology development in Singapore. Other prominent themes include artificial intelligence and automation (91 percent) and autonomous technology/IoT (91 percent) (64 percent). Singapore was also named one of the top blockchain leaders in the world, with the United States, China, and Europe, according to the report. The research also emphasized the report’s optimism for the future of blockchain in Singapore, with 45 percent of respondents believing that the technology’s growth will increase with additional applications and possibilities.

2. Code Revival — Redesigning a corporation’s old systems can assist boost the company’s digital potential. Legacy systems might comprise software, hardware, networking, or operating systems that a company uses indefinitely to cut expenses. Legacy systems are typically kept in operation since they are frequently at the heart of an enterprise’s processes. Most legacy systems, however, cannot be updated or made more secure due to their age. Because these are critical systems, it is critical for businesses to protect them against security breaches and other failures. The term “core resurrection” refers to the modernization of old corporate systems, which entails migrating the traditional system to a secure cloud-based platform. The expense of cloud migrations and other core revitalization efforts might be prohibitively expensive for many. However, most Singapore firms are solving this challenge by outsourcing or transferring their heritage values to sophisticated platforms that require less code. It won’t be long until this trend becomes widespread, and organizations begin to gain more benefits and add more value to their core systems.

3. Artificial Intelligence and Hyper automation — Artificial intelligence is the use of intelligent machines to mimic human cognition and behavior. According to an Accenture press release from 2017, the application of AI in Singapore may create a gross value of almost 215 billion USD by 2035. Business services, manufacturing, and finance will profit the most from incorporating AI processes and robots into their structure. AI will benefit 11 different industry sectors significantly if it is employed in their digital transformation strategies. Other industry areas that trail the top three listed previously include education, health, and social services, information technology, and transportation. Transportation is one of the other industry sectors that comes in a close second to the top three listed before. With the significant development potential of AI, the nation has already established a program called AI SG (AI Singapore) with the financing of up to $150 million USD to accelerate, collaborate, and enhance AI’s skills in the country’s economy. In January 2019, the country’s first model framework for AI governance (an ethical approach to using AI technology) was launched. A year later, the framework’s second version was released. With the availability of huge data, new algorithms, and better computers, artificial intelligence has gained traction and is unquestionably one of the top trend technologies.

Hyper automation refers to the use of sophisticated technologies such as AI and ML (machine learning) to automate large-scale operations that are more significant than standard types of automation. It entails the use of a variety of technologies like RPA (robotic process automation), intelligent business management software, and others to reduce human participation in technical and physical activities while also assisting in rapid decision making. These developments are already seen in common business areas such as healthcare and education, and their popularity will only increase in 2021.

4. Distributed Cloud — Distributed cloud computing differs from typical centralized data storage clouds in that it comprises a collection of cloud components that retain and give information to the application as needed. The geographical dispersion of the distributed cloud system is also a feature. Facebook, Netflix, Dropbox, and many more cloud services are examples of companies that employ distributed cloud computing. The distributed cloud is the solution to the challenges of data processing delays, data sovereignty, and network latency.

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Nishma Mohideen

If you don't make the decision and do it, you'll never know if you can do something.