The current international situation surrounding Russia's aggression against Ukraine has revealed various issues for Japan. While Japan is pressed to secure energy and food security, the world is looking ahead beyond DX and GX, investing in next-generation nuclear power technology, nuclear fusion reactors, photoelectric fusion, and quantum, training human resources to deal with them, and strengthening the cyber and space domains.

In addition to changes in the social structure, there will continue to be unexpected new challenges. The key to responding to these challenges is to develop human resources who will redesign the entire society by taking a back-cast approach and take on the challenges of value creation and social change.

In light of this situation, the government is also promoting various discussions on human resource development. The Council for Science, Technology and Innovation's "Policy package regarding education and human resource development toward the realization of Society 5.0," in which I participated, stated that it is "people" who create new values amid changes in the social structure, and indicated that the government will work across agencies to shift to education and human resource development that emphasize diversity. In addition, the first proposal of the Council for the Creation of Future Education regards the realization of a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution through investment in people in education and human resource development as an urgent issue for the realization of a new form of capitalism, and proposes measures such as strengthening the functions of universities and improving the environment for promoting recurrent training.

Keidanren believes that in addition to developing students' abilities for Society 5.0 from the elementary and secondary levels, it is important for working people who have graduated from universities to acquire new knowledge and skills and move into growth areas in response to economic and social changes, in other words, a virtuous cycle of work and learning.

Based on the virtuous cycle of work and learning, if each individual can respond flexibly to changes, and collaborate with others to solve social issues, it will lead to the realization of well-being for individuals and society. The reason why investment in human resources is necessary is not just to address digitalization and improve productivity, but to pursue a diverse of happiness. This is why the industry, government, and academia should work together to develop human resources toward Society 5.0, a people-centered society.