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Paper short abstract:

Analysis of the role of connectivity infrastructure and finance in Japan’s development cooperation and diplomacy in the pandemic era of the early 2020s; testing the applicability of C. Kindleberger’s theories on concessional lending and the “stabilizer” role of major powers regarding connectivity.

Paper long abstract:

Connectivity infrastructure and its financing, as well as relevant regional visions and initiatives have consistently prominently figured in Japan’s diplomacy and development cooperation in the post-World War 2 and the post-Cold War periods. Following the emergence of the Indo-Pacific Vision, Japan’s international infrastructure initiatives came to the fore of this agenda. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, altered the connectivity landscape of the 2010s and affected global and regional connectivity in diverse ways, through dis-connectivity and re-connectivity: by disrupting and reshaping global value chains, affecting people’s mobility, and incentivizing state actors and commercial actors to readjust their approaches to connectivity, infrastructure, and finance. The crisis also created an additional opportunity for major powers to compete and cooperate in the exercise of providing public goods. This paper examines the evolving role of connectivity infrastructure and finance in Japan’s development cooperation and its diplomacy vis-à-vis Asian and Eurasian countries in the COVID-19 pandemic environment of the early 2020s. Furthermore, this analysis seeks to test the applicability of Charles Kindleberger’s theories on concessional lending and the “stabilizer” role of major powers to the field of COVID-era connectivity with a particular focus on Asia.

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Paper short abstract:

The paper will discuss the concept of Data Free Flow with Trust, how it has gone from a Japanese initiative to be part of the discourse of the EU, USA, or the OECD. Japanese diplomacy has pushed for it to become part of the international agenda and the paper will assess its success.

Paper long abstract:

The Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo proposed the idea of Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) in the World Economic Forum in 2019. It was a way to improve transborder data flows to facilitate electronic trade integrating the necessary safeguards for copyright, consumer rights, personal data protection and cybersecurity to increase trust. It was also a reaction to data localization a policy practiced by countries such as Russia or China, that fragments the market and creates trade barriers. 

Japan has used a lot of diplomatic efforts to make this concept part of the global discussion in the matter, both at bilateral, regional, and international for a, for example, in the negotiation of free trade agreements and as a convener of the Joint Statement Initiative on electronic commerce of the World Trade Organization. It pushed for it strongly in the G20 meeting of 2020 that it hosted, which had as a result the Osaka Track for Data Governance. Now, the expression “data free flow with trust” has permeated the political discourse of the European Union, the USA, or the OECD, that pinpoint it as a common objective. The only problem is that those States have themselves different policies relating, for example, to data protection. Therefore, the moment has come to see if interoperability is possible and flesh the DFFT concept out with practical measures and a whole toolbox of legal and policy instruments. For this, the G7 meeting hosted by Japan in 2023 will be a watershed moment and its results would be studied in the paper. 

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Paper short abstract:

Adopting an approach based on the triple and quadruple helix models of social innovation, this paper analyzes two cases of innovative multi-stakeholder projects promoting inclusive employment of disabled people, the Accessibility Consortium of Enterprises in Japan, and the ILONA project in Finland.

Paper long abstract:

The employment situation of people with disabilities is difficult worldwide, and they face significant barriers in the labour market. Existing research shows that national policy frameworks differ markedly in promoting inclusive employment. Besides state-level policies, many countries have introduced specific innovative projects to help disabled people develop their working capacities. This paper explores such projects in Japan and Finland by adopting the concept of social innovation. Based on the triple and quadruple helix models, social innovation is understood as being developed through the interaction and collaborative efforts among societal stakeholders such as the state, academia, industry, and non-governmental organizations (NGO).

Two research questions guide the study: 1. What kinds of collaborative networks are established to design and implement innovative projects for supporting the employment of disabled people? 2. How are these projects carried out, and do they imply potential for developing best practices internationally? The focus is on multi-stakeholder collaborative targeted projects to enhance the inclusive employment of people with partial work ability. The cases discussed are the Accessibility Consortium of Enterprises (ACE) in Japan and the ILONA project in Finland.

Drawing from personal interviews of seven experts from the collaborative organizations, as well as documents, reports and policy papers, the study finds that both ACE in Japan and ILONA in Finland represent innovative projects to support the employment of disabled people. Here, Japan represents the triple helix model of social innovation as exemplified in the ACE collaboration among universities, companies and government. In comparison, Finland is characterized by the quadruple helix model in projects such as ILONA with collaboration among four stakeholders: universities, companies, government, and NGOs – the latter having a strong initiator role. The results contribute to prior studies by illustrating targeted support projects for disabled people in two advanced countries in Asia and in Europe, respectively, and imply potential for developing best practices internationally as well.