Signing Ceremony for Comprehensive Cooperative Agreement on Public Safety Measures in Shiga Prefecture

On Wednesday, November 1, 2023, a signing ceremony was held at the Shiga Prefectural Police Headquarters for the Comprehensive Cooperative Agreement on Public Safety Measures in Shiga Prefecture.

Osaka University’s Institute of Social and Economic Research and Shiga Prefectural Police Headquarters signed this agreement on prevention and detection measures against scams including special fraud^*1 by using knowledge of the institute for the sake of public safety.

*1 Special fraud - certain types of fraud, extortion or theft offenses in which offenders use telephones or other devices to avoid confronting a victim in person and defraud him/her into making money transfers, etc. (Source: https://www.moj.go.jp/content/001361760.pdf)

From Shiga Prefectural Police Headquarters, Chief NAKAMURA Akihiro and officials, and from Osaka University, TSURUGA Takayuki (Director, the Institute of Social and Economic Research), OHTAKE Fumio (Specially Appointed Professor, the Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research), and HANAKI Nobuyuki (Director, the Research Center for Behavioral Economics and Professor at the Institute of Social and Economic Research) attended the signing ceremony.

After a greeting from Chief Nakamura and a greeting and explanation regarding nudges^*2 from Director Tsuruga, the two signed the agreement.

*2 Nudge – The term “nudge” is a friendly push in the right direction using behavioral science and is used as a method to influence individuals’ behavioral decisions to produce a desired result.

Usage examples of nudges developed by the Institute of Social and Economic Research:

• Early Evacuation Promotion Nudges for Heavy Rain Disasters (Hiroshima Prefecture)
• Text-Based Nudges Promoting Rubella Antibody Testing and Vaccination (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Nagoya City, Higashiosaka City, Gojo City, Yoshino City, Shimane Prefecture, Tsukuba City, Chigasaki City; Nudge messages were also posted on digital screens at Osaka Station Underground Shopping Mall and in Osaka Monorail trains.)
• Nudge messages from the Novel Coronavirus Expert Meeting

From left: Director Tsuruga and Chief Nakamura