Kyoko Ohtagaki, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, ANNAI Inc., Japan

​​​​​​1. How do you use your role to ensure that technology and policy are truly inclusive?

I am Kyoko Ohtagaki, Co-Founder, Executive Vice President, and CMO of ANNAI Inc.

I have worked on many web system projects for national governments, public institutions, and enterprise companies using Drupal, a CMS recognized by the United Nations as a Digital Public Good.

Since last year, I have also been providing amazee.io, a hosting PaaS that supports Drupal and other CMSs and websites, to support digital transformation initiatives.

For me, digital transformation (DX) is not just about introducing technology. It has changed how we work, how we interact with people, and how society functions.

What matters most is not increasing the number of people who can use technology, but building systems that everyone can use safely and with trust.

Through such systems, I believe we can build trust between governments, public institutions, and citizens.

Through these open technologies, I aim to make government systems more transparent, interoperable, and fair, and to ensure that no one is left behind in the digital society.

2. What’s a moment in your career when you saw firsthand how technology or a new policy changed a citizen’s life for the better?

I have been involved in building various government systems in recent years, including the jGrants subsidy application system, the Digital Agency’s website, and the unified and common CMS used by government organisations.

However, to be honest, I still feel that we are only halfway there. For example, some procedures became simpler after Japan’s traditional hanko culture — where a personal seal is required instead of a signature — was eliminated.

At the same time, in other cases, handwritten signatures were introduced instead, which actually made procedures more complicated.

Another example is the My Number system. It has made it easier for citizens to obtain residence certificates, but if data could be shared properly between government systems, a society where residence certificates are not needed at all should be possible.

We have not reached that stage yet.

I feel strongly that there is still much more to be done, and I want to continue working harder to get us there.

3. What was the most impactful project you worked on this year, and how did you measure its success in building trust and serving the needs of the public?

The most impactful achievement this year was registering our PaaS, amazee.io, and our SaaS, d-Gov, on the Digital Agency’s Digital Marketplace (DMP), a procurement platform exclusively for government institutions.

In government organisations, procurement processes are often heavy and make it difficult to adopt new digital services quickly. DMP is an effective platform that addresses this challenge by simplifying procurement for public officials.

As a result, we were able to demonstrate a practical model in which secure infrastructure can be launched in a short period of time, without going through complex traditional procedures.

Our first government use case is currently under development and is planned to be released next year.

We measure success through concrete outcomes: the expansion of collaboration and clear evidence that government institutions are confidently adopting open-source platforms in real operations.

We believe this will reduce time and effort for both government organisations and development companies.

4. What was one unexpected lesson you learned this year about designing for real people? This can be about a specific project or a broader lesson about your work.

This is not something I learned only this year, but through my recent work, I have been reminded that in many projects, the definition of “user” can be completely different depending on who you ask.

Some government officials define the “user” as the administrative staff who operate the system.

At the same time, there is also a belief that true success — and fairness in public-sector design — lies in delivering the greatest benefit to citizens, who are the ultimate end users.

I want to support communication by designing priorities and steps in a way that ultimately serves citizens.

5. We hear a lot about AI. What's a practical example of how AI can be used to make government services more inclusive and trustworthy?

A very practical example is improving how government information is organised and accessed.

Many public websites still rely on PDFs, making information hard to search, follow chronologically, or understand across multiple departments.

AI can help by analysing and restructuring this information — making it searchable, showing updates in time order, and connecting related procedures that span different organisations.

This makes government services more inclusive for citizens who are not familiar with administrative systems, while also increasing trust through clarity and consistency.

6. How are you preparing for the next wave of change in the public sector? What new skill, approach, or technology are you most excited to explore in the coming year?

What I am particularly interested in is Activepieces, an open-source workflow automation and integration platform that connects multiple tools and services and organizes how tasks flow between them.

I see this kind of orchestration layer—serving as the foundation for integration and automation—becoming an increasingly important part of future software.

With tools like Activepieces, people can use no-code workflows to combine programs and services, including AI, and automate them based on their own business needs.

This approach helps cover one of AI’s weaknesses: its difficulty in producing the same output consistently over time.

At the same time, it democratizes the power of IT and API-based programming, making it accessible to more people.

7. What advice do you have for public sector innovators who want to build a career focused on serving all citizens?

In the icy seas where predators lurk, there is a penguin that jumps in first, without regard for the risks.

From this brave act comes the phrase “Be the first penguin,” a symbol of leadership and courage. Taking the first step always involves real risks, sometimes even life-threatening ones.

I believe courage is essential, but if you do not survive, it means nothing. That is why it is important to build a network of allies who will support you in difficult times.

Also, when you do something unprecedented, even those around you may see you as
strange or fail to understand you. But the real enemy is not within. It lies outside.

What we must confront are the systems and traditions that prevent us from moving forward.

To me, leadership means recognising what is truly worth fighting for, and having the courage to stand up when it matters most.

8. Who inspires you to build a more inclusive and trustworthy public sector?

I have been involved with Drupal since 2007, and together with a small group of people, I
worked to build the Drupal community in Japan.

Through this work, I was able to build many connections within Japan, and also make many friends around the world.

Through interacting with them, I learned diverse values and perspectives that I would not have encountered by staying only in Japan.

At the same time, I have met many people in Japan who are proactively working to realise the path they believe is right.

These people continue to inspire me. What they all share is a high-level perspective. They look beyond immediate challenges and consider the impact of their actions on society and the future.

I strive to keep this perspective with me and to give back value to the communities and society that I am part of

9. If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream project be?

I would build an Open Digital Commons, where local governments across Japan can co-develop and reuse shared digital modules.

This would reduce duplicated spending, accelerate innovation, and enable even small municipalities to deliver high-quality public services.

It would make digital infrastructure a true public good.

I would also invest in education and culture. Education expands people’s choices and opportunities.

While running a company requires short-term results, education and culture need long-term investment. I want to support initiatives that take this long-term view.

10. Outside tech, what excites you the most?

In Japan, a snack is a small, casual bar where people come to talk.

As the “snack mama,” I welcome guests with the manager and listen to their stories. People live with different backgrounds and values, and sometimes we disagree.

But when we learn how hard someone is trying, conflict can turn into understanding. I want to keep supporting people by staying close and listening.

This is also why our company is called ANNAI, a Japanese word meaning “to guide” or “to walk alongside.”

I also run a YouTube talk show called ‘Snack Kyoko.’