Specialist knowledge and project promotion skills are essential for promoting large-scale projects such as digitalisation and operational efficiency improvements in local government. How do we collaborate with external people with these experiences and skills? 

Introducing GovTechTokyo Partners

“GovTechTokyo Partners” is a service provided by GovTechTokyo to address the various concerns that local governments have regarding the appointment and utilisation of digital talent, from formulating personnel requirements and introducing talent to supporting retention. A major feature of this service is that it not only matches the needs of local governments with the skills and experience of talent, but also covers follow-up to ensure they are effectively utilised and able to thrive.

GovTechTokyo Partners, which launched in 2024, currently has many registered members with a variety of expertise, including project managers, engineers, designers, and public relations professionals, who wish to work multiple jobs in local government.

Supporting take-up of digital talent utilisation

To further support the utilisation of digital talent in municipalities in Tokyo, GovTechTokyo Partners held the first information exchange meeting to deepen local understanding of the digital talent utilisation, share issues and knowledge from three municipalities already working with GovTechTokyo partners, and to create a community to create connections between municipalities and GovTechTokyo. In Koto Ward, they have appointed a member of GovTechTokyo Partners as a CIO aide since last year, in response to the revision of its Digital Transformation Promotion Plan and the strengthening of its organisational structure for promoting Digital Transformation. In Arakawa Ward, they have worked with digital talent from GovTechTokyo Partners to work with field staff to review work flows and automate administrative tasks. And in Inagi City, as part of their website improvement project, they have utilised knowledge of digital talent from GovTechTokyo Partners to analyse and propose improvements to the city’s websites managed by each department. 

How does it work in practice?

A common question for municipalities is how daily communication works with GovTechTokyo Partners personnel, and perhaps the key to successful collaboration is accepting GovTechTokyo Partners’ personnel as colleagues with the same goals, rather than treating them as outsiders.

In addition, when asked about the differences between GovTechTokyo Partners and other human resources services, they mentioned that “they can set personal requirements and interview standards based on the actual circumstances of each local government from both the public and private perspectives,” demonstrating that the strengths of a public-private co-creation organization are also utilised in this service.

What’s next for GovTech Tokyo Partners?

At GovTechTokyo Recruitment Group, we often hear from local governments that they want to utilise digital talent, but don’t know where to start. GovTech Tokyo Partners does not aim to hire talent, but rather to contribute to solving local government issues through the power of digital talent, so we first help with identifying the issues.

When local governments have ideas like “We want to make this work more efficient” or “We want to further improve services for residents using the power of digital technology,” we will work together to consider what challenges they face in realising these ideas, whether they really need the skills of digital talent, and what kind of talent would be suitable.

I think there will be times before and after welcoming digital talent, when new burdens arise. I hear there are many difficulties until you get used to it, such as building relationships with people with various specialties and knowledge, and adjusting how work is carried out. We would like to continue to work together with local governments in Tokyo to promote the use of digital talent, while listening to the questions and concerns of the people there.

This blog is translated and reposted from the GovTech Tokyo blog which was published on 3 September 2025, for more information visit the original blog article.