When formulating innovation policies, what kind of information do members of parliament seek?

In recent years, technological innovations like the internet, AI, and robotics have brought significant changes to the business environment. For companies, it's increasingly necessary not only to create excellent products and services but also to engage in shaping new market rules, such as promoting regulatory frameworks.

In this environment, the ability to propose new rules and clearly communicate how they contribute to solving societal challenges is essential. Public affairs initiatives—understanding the environment surrounding the company and engaging in dialogue with various stakeholders—are becoming indispensable for businesses.

This series will introduce key points for public affairs that companies should address moving forward. Dentsu Inc. Public Relations, the University of Tokyo, and Hotlink defined "social innovation challenges" as issues whose resolution would significantly transform and improve society, the economy, and daily life. They conducted research on the information needed when formulating policies to drive innovation.

Part 2 of this series explains, based on these findings, the information Diet members require during policy formulation and the key points companies should consider when providing information to legislators.

Survey conducted targeting incumbent Diet members

The "Future Investment Strategy 2018," approved by the Cabinet in June 2018, emphasizes the importance of solving Japan's social challenges and achieving new growth through innovative technologies like IoT, big data, AI, and robotics (*1). To realize such innovation, there is an increasing need for companies on the ground to provide information to policy makers.

So, what kind of information do Diet members need when formulating policy? With the cooperation of the "Digital Society Promotion Parliamentary League," we conducted a survey targeting approximately 700 Diet members from both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors nationwide. We will present the aggregated results from the 64 respondents who provided answers (*2).

※1: "Future Investment Strategy 2018 - Transformation to 'Society 5.0' and a 'Data-Driven Society'" June 15, 2018, pp. 1-2

※2: Responding Diet members were affiliated with roughly equal numbers of ruling and opposition parties.

Emphasis on impacts on citizens' lives, not just economic effects

Figure 1 shows the results when Diet members were asked to select three perspectives they prioritize when formulating policies to drive innovation. Looking at the top priorities, it is clear that not only do many Diet members emphasize "Japan's international competitiveness" and "economic impact" as pillars of Japan's growth strategy, but also that approximately half of the Diet members prioritize "citizen well-being" and "citizen health and safety."

Furthermore, Diet members were asked to freely list innovation fields they find interesting. Table 1 shows keywords extracted from their responses. It reveals that many Diet members are interested in innovations related to "declining birthrate and aging society" and "education and childcare policies."

This indicates that Diet members place expectations on innovation not only from an economic perspective but also from the perspective of improving citizens' lives.

Approximately 80% of Diet members seek evidence based on objective data. Less than 20% feel the current supply is sufficient.

So, what form of information should companies provide to Diet members to be most effective? This survey asked Diet members about the information they need when considering innovation policy and its sources.

The horizontal axis in Figure 2 represents the necessity of information; the further to the right, the more essential the information is to Diet members.

The results show that the highest priority information for Diet members is "Basic Information/Data/Statistics" (84.4%), followed by "Scientific Analysis/Explanations" (78.1%) and "Estimated Results (e.g., Economic Impact)" (75.0%). This indicates that approximately 80% of Diet members seek objective data.

One likely reason Diet members seek objective data is the growing interest in Evidence-Based Policy Making (EBPM). The Cabinet Office has established an "EBPM Promotion Office" to promote the use of data (evidence) in policy formulation (*3), and the necessity of this approach may be permeating among Diet members.

Conversely, the survey results also revealed a shortage of such objective information. The vertical axis in Figure 2 shows the adequacy of information needed by Diet members. Responses indicating sufficiency were below 20% for "Basic information, data, statistics" (18.5%), "Scientific analysis and explanations" (8.0%), and "Estimated results such as economic effects" (12.5%). This indicates that the more data is needed, the more likely it is to be lacking.

It should be noted that these survey results could also be interpreted as indicating a lack of clear explanations for busy Diet members, rather than a deficiency in the data or statistics themselves.

This issue is further highlighted by another question. When asked about challenges in formulating innovation policy (multiple answers allowed), the highest response rate was "Lack of information (evidence) to formulate policy" (62.5%). This was followed by "Insufficient staff with expertise to support policy formulation" (56.3%) (Figure 3).

When formulating innovation policy, objective data serving as evidence is required. It is also considered necessary for businesses to present policy proposals while demonstrating objective data and its explanations.

*3: It is stated that "policy planning should not rely on isolated anecdotes, but rather be based on information and data (evidence) that are crucial for measuring policy effectiveness, after clearly defining policy objectives (EBPM)" (April 2018, "2018 Cabinet Office EBPM Policy Direction," page 2).

The most trusted sources of information for Diet members during policy formulation are: "National Diet Library," "Study Groups/Research Groups," "Experts," and "Relevant Ministries and Agencies."

So, what sources should be utilized effectively when providing information to Diet members? We asked Diet members what sources they use when considering policies to promote innovation.

The horizontal axis in Figure 4 shows the percentage of Diet members using each information source, with sources used more frequently appearing further to the right. The highest percentages were for "News reports (newspapers, TV, radio, magazines, etc.)" (82.8%), "Relevant ministries and agencies" (81.3%), and "Study groups/research groups" (76.6%), in that order.

We also asked about the reliability of the information sources used (*4). The vertical axis shows higher reliability toward the top, with the order being: "National Diet Library" (85.7%), "Study groups/research forums" (77.6%), "Experts and their papers" (69.8%), and "Relevant ministries and agencies" (69.2%).

When making policy proposals to Diet members, it is important to arrange opportunities for direct discussion, such as through "study groups/research forums," and to utilize highly reliable sources like "experts and their papers."

The least trusted sources were "SNS, blogs, video sharing sites, etc." (14.8%), followed by "online news" (17.1%). As discussed in the first installment of this series, social media contains the voices of citizens regarding various social issues.

Just as companies draw inspiration for new product development from the internet, these platforms may also hold potential hints for future policy formulation. Therefore, it is necessary to further delve into, organize, and deliver this data as a means of communicating policy needs to policymakers.

*4: These survey results do not address the trustworthiness of specific organizations or individuals, but rather indicate trends in evaluations by Diet members.

Three Key Points for Providing Information to Members of Parliament

Based on these survey results, we identify three key points considered necessary for providing information to Diet members.

1.Communicating Social Value

When considering policies to promote innovation, Diet members are interested not only in economic effects but also in how such policies impact citizens' lives. Companies must therefore demonstrate not only the technological aspects of innovation but also its impact on people's lives.

2.Presenting Evidence

When considering policies, members of parliament require objective, evidence-based data. However, clear explanations grounded in data are often lacking. When companies make policy proposals, they must also use objective evidence to support their arguments.

3.Building Engagement

To provide reliable information, it is considered effective to create opportunities for study sessions and research meetings where lawmakers can speak directly, and to leverage the expertise of specialists.

In democratic nations, the will of the public is expressed through election results. Demonstrating the scale of voters who would benefit from a policy's implementation is also considered a crucial factor in capturing lawmakers' interest and driving innovation.

[Survey Overview]

• Research Entities: Sakata-Mori Laboratory, Department of Technology Management and Strategy, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo; Corporate Communications Strategy Institute (within Dentsu Inc. Public Relations); Hotlink

① AI for Estimating Social Innovation Issues and Big Data Analysis

• Survey Overview: Based on data from the "Future Investment Strategy 2017" and Twitter, two AI systems were developed: one to estimate social innovation challenges and another to estimate communities on social media. Furthermore, 18 challenges were classified into 4 groups based on two Twitter metrics: "① Volume of Tweets" and "② Concentration of Tweets within Specific Communities."
• Analysis Target: Data from over tens of millions of randomly sampled tweets from July 2017

② Diet Member Survey

• Survey Method: With the cooperation of the Diet Members' League for the Promotion of Digital Society, questionnaires were sent to all Diet members (both House of Representatives and House of Councillors). Responses were obtained via the questionnaire or online.
• Survey Period: December 9, 2017 – April 8, 2018
• Responses: Total of 64 (43 House of Representatives members, 21 House of Councillors members)