10. Joint IT Development Strategies Between Nepal and Japan: Based on Japan-South Korea-Nepal Trilateral Cooperation

In the Japanese IT industry, there is a marked shortage of IT human resources due to the expansion of IT utilization and e-business, the aging of system engineers, deteriorating working conditions, difficulties in technology succession, and the diversification and sophistication of technology acquisition. The supply of IT human resources is continually unable to keep up with the ever-increasing demand, it is becoming difficult to secure IT human resources year by year, and the shortage is expected to continue in the future. In Japanese information system development, overseas IT human resources, such as those obtained through offshore development, are actively utilized to make up for the IT human resource shortage. Recently, a new system development business model has been developed, in which foreign engineers who wish to work for Japanese IT companies come to Japan to develop information systems, through international cooperation between Japan and developing countries. In this study, offshore development involving international cooperation is defined as a development method involving on-site service in offshore development outsourced to overseas, or offshore development utilizing foreigners. After a general examination of the concept, we consider the current state and issues regarding offshore development involving inter-national cooperation between Japan, South Korea, and Nepal.