eGA and MURC jointly established the Digital Governance Academy Asia-Pacific

e-Governance Academy and Japanese think tank Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd (MURC) established a joint venture on December 8 to provide digital transformation services for governments in Japan and Asian region. The name of the new enterprise is Digital Governance Academy Asia-Pacific or D-GAP.

The 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.

The D-GAP is registered as a Japanese corporation with a 60% stake owned by MURC and a 40% stake owned by eGA.

Hannes Astok, Executive Director of the e-Governance Academy said, that it is a great honour for the e-Governance Academy to start digital governance promotion activities in Japan and the Asian region jointly with the local partner MURC.

“The collaboration with our Japanese partner will result in the most efficient knowledge transfer to Japan and Asia. 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, ” said Hannes Astok.

“The importance of promoting digital government in Japan has been widely reaffirmed. This joint venture company named D-GAP will make sincere efforts to promote digital transformation in a wide range of societies in the Asian region. The 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,” said Satoshi Murabayashi President of Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd.

Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd

Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting is a think tank consulting firm of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG). Based in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, the Group conducts a wide range of activities, including research and recommendations on national and local government policies, consulting private companies, providing management information services, supporting human resource development, and conducting economic research.

e-Governance Academy eGA is a non-profit consulting organisation founded in 2002 as a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 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. e-Governance Academy’s management system for its project management, study visits, and consulting services meet the ISO 9001:2015 standard. To date, eGA has consulted government officials in policymaking and implementation of e-government, the establishment of organisations, and legal and technical frameworks and management, in over 130 countries.