Fukuoka Growth 11 Human & Innovation, Power of 1.5 million + x

Information & Strategy Office
In severe financial conditions, many municipalities are attempting to focus on policies for the efficient and effective financial operation. What is the necessary policy for the social and economic development? Municipalities are also expected to engage in marketing. ‘Information & Strategy Office’ was set up in URC as an advisory team serving for Fukuoka City with a mission to contribute to the economic growth of Fukuoka City. In daily operation, it collects and analyzes data and information, consults to city bureaus and the general public, builds up policy options and recommends priorities to support Mayor’s decision making.
Every city is unique and has its own characterBifocal Eyes to Look at a City – It is ideal to have bifocal eyes like a zoom lens to comprehend a city. – Macro eyes would help understand the position of Fukuoka on the world map from a comprehensive point of view. – Micro eyes would help capture the charms of Fukuoka from an ordinary resident’s point of view. – These are often described as “bird’s-eye view, fish’s-eye view, worm’s-eye view”. Because a city continues to change day by day like a living creature, it is necessary to look at a city from diversified points of view. Competition for Uniqueness – Every city looks in similar colors from the universe. – However, when visiting a city, each city has its own charms and characteristics. – Examples would include an old townscape in Europe, a modern business street in the United States, a chaotic large city in Asia, and a traditional colony in Arab. – The era pursuing the quantity and scale by mass production has shifted to the era focusing on the quality. – As a result of globalization, urban planning to enhance unique charm and context of a city has become popular. Uniqueness of Fukuoka – What is the uniqueness of Fukuoka? – “Fukuoka Growth” provided the data mainly from the macro-eye view from the first issue to the previous one. – From this issue, switching to the micro-eye view, the unique “Quality” of Fukuoka is going to be thoroughly introduced. – The theme of this issue is Fukuoka’s world-class “Quality of Life”. September 5, 2013 Taichi GOTO Head of Information and Strategy Office Fukuoka Asian Urban Research Center
Fukuoka Growth [Growth Potential of Fukuoka City]
11 Human & Innovation, Power of 1.5 million + x (16/1/2014 Version1.0)

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After going through the abnormal conditions of capitalism such as the Lehman crash and the Euro crisis, people in the world started to shift their focus onto the importance of “human resource” from “products” and “money”. “Added value” which is the growth indicator of the country or region is what is generated by human. In the world trade, Japan still has a great presence in terms of generating “added value”. The ratio of added value among Japan’s exports is the world top level. Meanwhile, the number of countries and regions which have been recognizing the importance of human resources development for a long time and have focused on education is increasing in Asia, which would relatively be lowering the rating of Japan. Global-scale competition of hiring highly-skilled professionals is getting intense, and the Asian region where the level of education is rapidly rising is attracting the world’s attention. For example, Harvard University has set up a base in Asia and is diligent in securing highly-skilled professionals. Students in Asia also try to emigrate to USA and aim to enter universities like Harvard. The global mobility of highly-skilled professionals is becoming greater.In Japan, it is only after the compulsory education when school starts to have students to focus on considering the career to pursue in the future. The academic achievement is lower in Japan than in Asian countries such as Korea and Singapore, already in the phase of elementary and junior high school. In Fukuoka City, although the future population growth is expected, the number of young generation is expected to shift from upward to downward. It is necessary to compensate the quantitative reduction of human resources which generate added value with the improvement of quality. In the global economy, it is urgently necessary to develop highly-skilled professionals who are competitive enough in the world, and the diversified educational environment needs to be arranged from the early stage of education before gaps occur. It is important to prevent the drain of highly-skilled professionals and to locally develop the business environment to make the best use of those talents as well as the professional knowledge, skills, and creativity that all citizens have. It is important to increase the added value in all Fukuoka area by organically coordinating these factors. It also can be expected that the relationship to Asia and Fukuoka’s appealing point enable Fukuoka to attract highly-skilled foreign and national professionals, and generate greater power. November 20, 2013 Naohisa HATAKEYAMA Information and Strategy Office Fukuoka Asian Urban Research Center

Figure 1. Fukuoka City Population Prospects, by Age (2010, 2020, 2030)


*Click on the figures to enlarge.

Fukuoka Growth [Growth Potential of Fukuoka City] Data is the basis for planning. No hypothesis or forecast can be established without logical grounds based on data analysis. Data is related to various fields. To collect and analyze data is an important task. In natural science, accumulated experimental data leads to new discoveries and evolution. In business or policy making, a variety of data supports to build next strategies. Data indicates “fact” at a certain point in time from a certain point of view. In order to plan for the future of Fukuoka, it is important to analyze data from a variety of points of view and to prepare a more certain path for growth. There is a variety set of data indicating the growth potential of Fukuoka city. A series of reports “Fukuoka Growth” is going to be released twice a month. In each issue it will diagnose and discuss the future of Fukuoka city and people by analyzing data relevant to a selected theme. We hope this series of reports will be informative for those who are considering to live, study, work, invest, and start a business in Fukuoka.