On May 31, SMARTVALUE (securities code: 9417), a Japanese company primarily engaged in the mobile business, which operates DOCOMO shops (Japan’s leading wireless telecommunications service provider including mobile phones), announced the launch of GaaS—a resident ID platform (Government as a Service). GaaS is designed to digitize administrative services and procedures. On the same day, SMARTVALUE also announced the launch of POTAL, a portal site designed to provide administrative services online, in Kaga, Ishikawa, where the company has been jointly promoting the blockchain city project since March 2018.

As the first step, SMARTVALUE launched GaaS in Kaga, Ishikawa on May 31, 2019, as Japan’s first resident ID platform using blockchain technologies. On the same date, the company is said to have launched a service to provide identity authentication using open IDs such as SNS accounts and administrative information according to security levels.

In its three-year plan, the company lists: (1) Improving convenience and reducing administrative costs through the digitization of administrative services in connection with My Number Card and other tools; (2) Eliminating transportation constraints through a community transportation design; (3) Extending healthy life expectancy through the personalization of healthcare information; and, (4) Creating demonstration fields, employment, and vitalization through the establishment of a laboratory. In FY2019, the company is said to start digitizing some administrative procedures in cooperation with Kaga by promoting a connectivity demonstration between GaaS and various identification technologies, including My Number Card.

The POTAL portal site is designed to manage user information based on the resident ID platform using blockchain. By logging onto POTAL using a resident ID, users with a broad array of needs and attributes will be able to access various community services provided by administrative agencies and companies. The company aims to improve the convenience of community activities.

In response, SMARTVALUE’s stock price increased sharply. GaaS is strongly expected to be widely used in the future.

*This article was written by Fisco