Japan races to hire 270,000 artificial intelligence engineers

Already behind other countries in nurturing the IT professionals indispensable to a digital transformation, Japan in 2030 is expected to have 270,000 artificial intelligence and Internet of Things jobs that it will be unable to fill. With few graduates holding STEM degrees -- those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- Japan sees gloom in its future and the need to invest more in human resources. "We cannot develop a system to forecast demand for products, though we need it," lamented a food-maker executive in charge of digital transformation. Although the company has increased its IT staff by 1.6 times, it has yet to nurture hires familiar with cutting-edge technologies. Japan has a considerable number of IT workers.