TOKYO Japan, August 8, 2001 - Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT/TSE:6501
hereinafter abbreviated as Hitachi) and the Beijing Polytechnic University
(hereinafter abbreviated as BPU) today announced that they have agreed
to contribute to realization of e-Government in China, by jointly
establishing a showroom specialized in e-Government and conduct market
research to realize the e-Government system for the Chinese
market, bringing together their technologies and know-how.
Based on this agreement, Hitachi and BPU will bring together Hitachi's
e-Government system technologies and BPU's know-how. Hitachi's e-Government
system technology has a proven record of implementation of the system
in Japan. And BPU's know-how has been gained from computerizing the
Beijing Municipal Government offices. The two parties are going to
open China's first e-Government showroom, China CyberGovernment
Square (hereinafter abbreviated as CCGS) in BPU
campus beginning in October 2001. The companies will start research
and development of e-Government systems for the Chinese market and
investigate e-Government related business prospects at CCGS.
Based on the The Tenth Five-Year Plan that is mainly focused
on IT, the Chinese government is promoting construction of network
infrastructure, preparing for the realization of e-Government in 2005.
With its Digital Beijing initiative, the Beijing Municipal
Government is actively working toward the computerization of administration
procedures and e-education.
The driving force of this Digital Beijing is a system
of cooperation among universities, research institutions and industries
centering around Zhongguancun that is dubbed as the Silicon Valley
of China. With the support of the Chinese government, cooperation
between industry and academia has been actively promoted in
China. For example, a coherent effort from research and development
to commercialization of products has been conducted by collaboration
among universities, research institutions and joint ventures set up
in cooperation with universities.
BPU has been actively promoting cooperation between industry
and academia. It has established several joint ventures and
has been developing software by contract for Hitachi. As a university
that has a close tie to the local community, it has been participating
in the IT promotion plan of the Beijing Municipal Government, utilizing
its accumulated know-how. The university has been designated as one
of the most important universities to produce top-class personnel,
and is expected to become an important center for future development
of Beijing, especially for promotion of computerization.
Hitachi announced the e-Government solution for the Japanese market,
Solutionmax for CyberGovernment in September 1999. It
has accumulated ample know-how and a proven record of accomplishment
in developing e-Government systems, by providing fundamental technologies
that are crucial to implementing e-Government such as security and
authentication technologies and various systems utilizing these fundamental
technologies. Hitachi has been taking a lead in this business field.
It opened Japan's first showroom specialized in featuring e-Government
system, CyberGovernment Square in March 2000. Since then
more than seven thousand government officials have visited there,
getting more than 100 purchase orders.
In order to build e-Government system, it is necessary to promote
international collaboration. So Hitachi will establish CCGS
with BPU in China, which is one of the most important markets for
Hitachi. CCGS will be the first e-Government showroom
outside of Japan as a Japanese company.
The contents of agreement between Hitachi and BPU are as follows.
[Contents of agreement]
1. To Establish an e-Government Showroom China CyberGovernment
Square (CCGS)
Both parties plan to establish an e-Government showroom CCGS
in BPU campus next October. At CCGS, they make presentations
guided with video and demonstrations to government officials about
e-Government. And they interview them and obtain market information,
such as comments and requests.
2. Market Research and Analysis to Develop e-Government Systems
in China
With this showroom as the research base, the two parties are to jointly
conduct market research regarding e-Government in China. They are
also to study the Chinese government from various aspects such as
administration and legal, and analyze a system that can be applicable
for the e-Government market of the Beijing Municipal Government and
the Chinese government.
Hitachi and BPU consider establishment of CCGS as the
first international cooperation in the e-Government field. They seek
to build wide-ranging and long-term partnership in the future.
[Outline of the showroom]
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