FRONTEO Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, President: Masahiro Morimoto, hereinafter referred to as FRONTEO) will implement economic security measures for Japanese companies on the 2022st anniversary of the enforcement of the Economic Security Promotion Law in August 8. We conducted a survey on trends in initiatives and published the results on our website.

<Background of the survey>

　One year has passed since the Economic Security Promotion Act was enacted and promulgated in May 2022 and came into effect in August of the same year.While many companies feel the need for countermeasures and have started activities, there are still many companies that are still at the stage of considering what kind of measures should be taken.
　FRONTEO is an AI solution specializing in economic security measures "KIBIT Seizu Analysis (https://osint.fronteo.com/solution/)”, we have felt that there has been an increase in interest from companies since the promulgation and enforcement of the Economic Security Promotion Law.In response to this situation, we will clarify the actual situation such as the progress of economic security measures of Japanese companies and the impact of the promulgation and enforcement of the Economic Security Promotion Law on companies. This survey was conducted with the aim of contributing to the promotion of economic security measures.

<Summary of the survey>

Survey implementation period: June to July 2023

Survey subject: FRONTEO

Survey target: Information on various study groups such as the "Economic Security Study Group" hosted by FRONTEO,
                                          Those who work for a Japanese company

Survey method: Internet survey

Number of valid responses: 121

<Summary of survey results>

● More than 8% of respondents were aware of the promulgation and enforcement of the Economic Security Promotion Act.
●A high proportion of Japanese companies face challenges in promoting economic security measures related to their understanding and knowledge of economic security.Recognition of issues related to specific activities, such as organizing information and disclosing information on countermeasures, was less than 1% of all responses, even when focusing on the manufacturing industry, where countermeasures are more advanced.
●Since the promulgation of the Act on Promotion of Economic Security, the number of companies that have implemented economic security measures has increased, but when comparing the manufacturing industry with the non-manufacturing industry, the manufacturing industry has increased the number of companies that have implemented such measures in the past year. I found out.
● Approximately 2% of the respondents answered that matters related to economic security had an impact on their business. The occurrence of matters requiring specific measures such as "connection with organizations of concern" was raised.

　In addition to the above, the survey included questions about changes in initiatives before and after the promulgation of the Economic Security Law, as well as specific examples of the need for security clearance and non-disclosure of patents.All items are published on the "Economic Security Blog" on the FRONTEO website.

FRONTEO　economic security blog
https://osint.fronteo.com/blog/survey-report-july.2023

<Survey result details>

(XNUMX) Industry and size of the company to which the respondent belongs
　Although the respondents came from a wide variety of industries, about 5% were involved in the manufacturing industry.Since this survey was conducted on people belonging to Japanese companies who have participated in and are interested in the "Economic Security Study Group" sponsored by FRONTEO, there are many people in the manufacturing industry who are highly interested in supply chain management. became.In terms of company size, more than 10,000% of companies have 4 or more employees.In addition, about 1% of companies have sales exceeding 3 trillion yen, and about 1000% have sales exceeding 7 billion yen.

② Recognition of the promulgation and enforcement of the Economic Security Law　
　We checked the degree of awareness of the fact that the Economic Security Promotion Act was promulgated in May 2022 and came into effect in August of the same year. More than 5% of the respondents answered that they "know", while more than 8% answered that they "do not know".

③ Challenges in promoting economic security measures　
　As for the challenges in promoting economic security measures within the company, there are issues related to economic security, such as “internal penetration of the importance of economic security measures,” “understanding of laws and systems,” and “lack of specialized knowledge within the company.” A large number of points were collected on items related to understanding and knowledge, and the percentage of respondents who felt that there were issues in specific activities such as "organization of company information," "selection of countermeasure solutions," and "explanation of progress to the outside." resulted in a low
　Similar results are obtained when the manufacturing industry and non-manufacturing industry are broken down, and it seems that many companies are at the starting line of economic security measures.

④ Progress and changes in economic security measures
　Regarding the progress of economic security measures, we confirmed the presence or absence of measures before and after the promulgation of the Economic Security Promotion Law and the degree of progress.Overall In addition, both in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries, when compared to before the law was promulgated, we found that the number of companies that have taken measures after the promulgation has increased.
　When comparing the manufacturing industry and the non-manufacturing industry, the manufacturing industry had a higher percentage of companies that had started to take action before the promulgation, and the percentage of companies that had taken action after the promulgation also increased by 12.1 points. A comparison of the 5.5 point increase in the manufacturing industry shows that the efforts of economic security measures in the manufacturing industry are ahead of other industries.
　On the other hand, although economic security measures are being implemented, about 2% of the respondents answered that progress was sufficient overall, and less than 3% of those in the manufacturing industry, where measures tend to be more advanced.
　Many companies answered that progress was insufficient because, as indicated in the previous section, "Challenges in promoting economic security measures," many companies tend to be at the stage of acquiring understanding and knowledge. It is thought that this reflects the fact that there are still not many companies that have implemented specific measures or incorporated them into their normal business activities.
　Separately from this section, when asked to individually compare initiatives before the promulgation of the Economic Security Promotion Law and initiatives that started after the promulgation, many of the initiatives in the non-manufacturing industry started after the promulgation. It can be inferred that the promulgation and enforcement of the measures provided the impetus for the implementation of the measures (details are described in "(XNUMX) Contents of economic security measures" posted on the Economic Security Blog).

(v) impacts that pose business challenges related to economic security;　
　Approximately 2% of all respondents answered that there would be an impact that would pose business challenges related to economic security.The percentage of respondents who responded that they had an impact was about 10 points higher in the manufacturing industry than in the non-manufacturing industry, and about 6% of the non-manufacturing industries responded that they had had an impact.
　Specifics of what was affected include: “There was an organization of concern, such as being placed on a sanctions list among suppliers or customers,” “There were supplies that were difficult to procure,” and “Information protection.”・Joint research was canceled or interrupted from the viewpoint of technology protection", "There was a division of the distribution network", etc. .







　Through the provision of KIBIT Seizu Analysis, an AI solution that specializes in economic security measures, FRONTEO visualizes economic security risks and opportunities, and strives to support Japanese companies in making strategic and prompt decisions. I was.In response to the results of this survey, the challenges in promoting economic security measures and the appearance of companies trying to promote measures while facing the challenges have been highlighted. FRONTEO will continue to utilize the latest intelligence and aim to be a strong partner for companies that consider and promote economic security measures.

■ About FRONTEO　URL: https://www.fronteo.com/

FRONTEO is a data analysis company that provides various AI solutions and services using the in-house developed AI engine "KIBIT". Based on the philosophy of "providing solutions that do not overlook risks and opportunities buried in records and realizing fairness in the information society," extract meaningful and important information from vast amounts of text data and complex networks. Our strengths are natural language processing and network analysis technologies that support advanced judgments by experts.We are developing businesses in the areas of legal tech AI, business intelligence, life science AI, and economic security, and contributing to solving various corporate and social issues. Founded in August 2003, listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange Mothers (currently Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth) on June 8, 2007.The company operates in Japan, the United States, South Korea, and Taiwan.Acquisition of first-class medical device manufacturing and sales business license, notification of controlled medical device sales business.Capital 6 thousand yen (as of March 26, 3,042,317).

* FRONTEO and KIBIT are registered trademarks of FRONTEO in Japan.

<Contact information for the press>
Public Relations Officer, FRONTEO Inc.
Email: pr_contact@fronteo.com

<Inquiries about economic security projects and AI solutions>
FRONTEO Co., Ltd. Economic Security Business Manager
https://osint.fronteo.com/contact/