Winners Announced for the Data StaRt Award and 2026 Competition
Overview
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications selected the winning organizations and individuals for the Data StaRt Award, which recognizes local governments’ use of statistical data, and the 2026 Statistical Data Analysis Competition. Kumamoto City received the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Award, Hiroshima City received the Director-General of the Statistics Bureau Award, and Atsugi City, Toyama Prefecture, and Toyota City received Special Awards. The competition announced awards in the high school and university/general divisions, Judges’ Encouragement Awards, and school awards, and published winners’ names, affiliations, and paper titles.
Key points
- Kumamoto City received the Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Award, Hiroshima City received the Director-General of the Statistics Bureau Award, and Atsugi City, Toyama Prefecture, and Toyota City received Special Awards.
- The 2026 Statistical Data Analysis Competition announced winners and papers for its divisions, including the high school and university/general divisions, as well as school awards.
- The two initiatives aim to promote the use of statistical data by local governments and to deepen high school and university students’ understanding of statistics and expand its use.
Overview
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications announced the results of reviews for the two initiatives, including the Minister’s Award. The Data StaRt Award has been held since fiscal 2016 to encourage accurate and efficient public administration based on objective statistics.
The Statistical Data Analysis Competition has been held since fiscal 2018 in cooperation with related organizations to deepen understanding of the usefulness of statistics and expand the use of statistical data.
Details
The Data StaRt Award’s Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Award went to “Transforming Delinquency Collection with Data: Reviewing Reminder Methods and Cutting Costs through RCTs,” by Kumamoto City, Kumamoto Prefecture. The Director-General of the Statistics Bureau Award went to “An Optimal Emergency Medical System for 2030 Guided by 210,000 Emergency Cases: Practicing EBPM through Event-Driven Simulation Using Generative AI × QGIS,” by Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture. Special Awards went to initiatives by Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture; Toyama Prefecture; and Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture.
The competition is co-hosted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the Statistics Center, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics of the Research Organization of Information and Systems, and the Japan Statistical Association. Awards include the Minister’s Award, Excellence Awards, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics Award, Statistical Data Use Encouragement Awards, Judges’ Encouragement Awards, and school awards. Winners and papers were announced in the high school and university/general divisions. The schools recognized were Keio Shonan Fujisawa Senior High School, Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Secondary Education School, Futaba High School, and Waseda University Senior High School.