Pohla & Hallmagi has helped the E-Governance Academy establish a joint venture with Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting.
According to EGA, the joint venture was established to “provide digital transformation services for governments in Japan and [the] Asian region. The name of the new enterprise is Digital Governance Academy Asia-Pacific or D-GAP.” According to EGA, D-GAP will “use the knowledge accumulated in the Republic of Estonia, one of the world’s most advanced digital societies, to provide high-quality training, survey, and consulting services to meet the diverse needs related to the digital government in Japan and overseas. The knowledge transfer will be focused on supporting Japanese and Asian governments in the implementation of the one-stop shop and once-only approaches in public administration.”
D-GAP is registered as a Japanese corporation with a 60% stake owned by MURC and a 40% stake owned by eGA.
“The collaboration with our Japanese partner will result in the most efficient knowledge transfer to Japan and Asia,” said EGA Executive Director Hannes Astok. “EGA is keen to share 25 years of Estonian experience in developing digital societies and lessons learnt, to make digital transformation happen in Japan and Asia.”
“The importance of promoting digital government in Japan has been widely reaffirmed,” commented Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting President Satoshi Murabayashi. “D-GAP will share the Estonian philosophy and experience on how digital transformation can benefit a whole society and economy, not only by improving the efficiency of administration.”
Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting is a think tank consulting firm of the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Based in Tokyo, Nagoyam and Osaka, its activities include research and recommendations on national and local government policies, consulting private companies, providing management information services, supporting human resource development, and conducting economic research.
The E-Governance Academy is a non-profit consulting organization founded in 2002 as a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Program, the Open Society Institute, and the Government of Estonia to create and transfer knowledge and best practices in the area of public sector digital transformation.
Pohla & Hallmagi’s team was led by Partner Juri Ploom.