Management consultant Accenture is forming a joint venture with Japanese conglomerate Infroneer Holdings – which builds and operates infrastructure – to use digital technology to improve infrastructure construction in Japan.
The idea is to counter the twin effects of ageing infrastructure and a skills shortage caused by Japan’s ageing population.
It will be Accenture’s first initiative in Japan’s construction industry.
It noted that the country had seen serious infrastructure failures in recent years, such as the 2012 collapse of concrete roof panels in the Sasago motorway tunnel west of Tokyo that killed nine people.
Called Infroneer Strategy & Innovation, the JV will be 81%-owned by Infroneer and 19%-owned by Accenture. It will be established on 1 April 2025, and will employ around 100 people, Accenture said.
It called the JV a “strategic think tank” that will apply digital technologies including AI across the Infroneer group with strategic IT investments and “continuous digital transformation”.
Outcomes include implementing a data-driven management model; raising site productivity to release more money for wages in order to compete for talent; and improving infrastructure operations.
The two companies have already built software for Japan’s first toll road and helped reduce costs for the Miura Sewerage Concession.
“Japan is facing a severe labor shortage, and we believe digital technology is the key to solving this challenge,” said Atsushi Egawa, CEO of Accenture Japan.
Infroneer president Kazunari Kibe said: “We have been working with Accenture since April 2022 to demonstrate how we take the lead in innovative initiatives especially in an infrastructure industry which is lagging in digitalisation.”
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