Regionalisation of Innovation Policies and New University–Industry Links in Japan: Policy Review and New Trends

Abstract

This paper examines developments in the governance of science and innovation in Japan, with a particular focus on the recent ‘regionalisation’ of innovation policies and policy support for new university–industry linkages. The paper charts the emergence of national funding programmes, greater institutional autonomy and the promotion of regional diversity. The paper presents two case studies to show how different regions have responded to the policy initiatives. The research suggests that there has been some movement towards regional diversity and the emergence of nascent regional innovation systems. However, questions remain as to the development and potential of truly regional governance structures for science and technology and the role of universities.

Keywords:

• innovation
• Japan
• regions
• university–industry links

Notes

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4. OECD, Territorial Reviews: Japan, OECD, Paris, 2005.

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10. Abe, 1998, op. cit.

11. K. Cowling and P. Tomlinson, ‘The problem of regional hollowing out in Japan: lessons for regional industrial policy’, in R. H. Cheng, R. Meadows and R. Sugden (eds), Urban and Regional Prosperity in a Globalized Economy, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 33–58.

12. K. Motohashi, ‘University–industry collaboration in Japan: the role of new technology‐based firms in transforming the national innovation system’, Research Policy, 34, 2005, pp. 583–94.

13. Cabinet Office, Science and Technology Basic Law, Law Number 130, 1995, available at: http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/law/law.html, accessed November 2007.

14. International Institute for Management Development, The World Competitiveness Yearbook, IIMD, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2001.

15. K. Yamamoto, ‘Corporatization of national universities in Japan: revolution for governance or rhetoric for downsizing?’, Financial Accountability and Management, 20, 2, 2004, pp. 153–81; see also D. Watson and F. Ohmori, ‘A tale of two countries: higher education “incorporation” in the UK and Japan’, A Daiwa Anglo–Japanese Foundation Lecture, February, 2005 (mimeo).

16. Yamamoto, op. cit. As of April 2004, along with the creation of 89 ‘National University Corporations’ (NUCs), there were 77 public (i.e. those owned by prefectural and municipal governments) and about 480 private universities in Japan. Some 80% of government research funding is allocated to national, ‘research oriented universities’, many of which serve as local centres of human resource development.

17. D. Hicks, ‘University–industry links in Japan’, Policy Sciences, 26, 1993, pp. 361–95.

18. R. Kneller, ‘The beginning of university entrepreneurship in Japan: TLOs and bioventures lead the way’, The Journal of Technology Transfer, 32, 2007, pp. 435–56.

19. M. Aoki and Y. Harayama, ‘Hashigaki [Introduction]’, in Y. Harayama (ed.), Sangakurenkei Kakushinryoku wo Takameru Seido Sekkei ni Mukete, Tokyo Keizai Publishing, Tokyo, 2003, pp. 3–11.

20. K. Pechter, ‘Empirical support for significant university–industry linkage in Japan’, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Management of Information and Technology, 1, 2001, pp. 246–52.

21. Kneller, op. cit. This echoes findings from the US literature: see D. C. Mowery, R. R. Nelson, B. N. Sampat and A. A. Ziedonis, ‘The growth of patenting and licensing by US universities: an assessment of the effects of the Bayh–Dole Act of 1980’, Research Policy, 30, 2001, pp. 99–119; W. M. Cohen, A. Goto, A. Nagata, R. R. Nelson and J. P. Walsh, ‘R&D spillovers, patents and the incentives to innovate in Japan and the United States’, Research Policy, 31, 2002, pp. 1349–67; J. Colyvas, M. Crow, A. Gelijns, R. Mazzoleni, R. R. Nelson and B. N. Sampat, ‘How do university inventions get into practice?’, Management Science, 48, 2001, pp. 61–72. Japanese literature has begun to debate the suitability of the new system against the old informal system: A. Nagata, ‘Knowledge flow from scientific sector to private firms: review on the policy of technology transfers in Japan’, paper presented at the 2006 PICMET Conference (Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology), Istanbul, Turkey, July 2006.

22. The range of measures include the Law to Promote the Transfer of University Technologies (1998: Law No. 52); Law of Special Measures to Revive Industry (1999: Law No. 31); Law to Strengthen Industrial Technology (2000: Law 44) and the National University Incorporation Law (2003: Law 112).

23. L. Woolgar, ‘New institutional policies for university–industry links in Japan’, Research Policy, 8, 2007, pp. 1261–74.

24. Organisations such as the Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST) have begun sponsoring programmes aimed at national universities and national laboratories to encourage the development of research into marketable products, with university administrators acting as liaison between the faculty members and JST.

25. See H. Etzowitz, M. Benner, L. Guaranys, A. M. Maculan and R. Kneller, ‘Managed capitalism: intellectual property and the rise of the entrepreneurial university in the US, Sweden, Brazil and Japan’, paper presented at the 5th EPIP conference, European Policy for Intellectual Property, Roskilde University, Copenhagen, Denmark, 10–11 March 2005 (mimeo).

26. Ibid.

27. H. Odagiri, ‘Advance of science‐based industries and the changing innovation system of Japan’, COE RES Discussion Paper Series, No. 64, June 2004.

28. Motohashi, op. cit.

29. Ibid.

30. National Institute for Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP), Triple Helix in Local Areas: Local Innovation Systems and National Universities, March, NISTEP, Tokyo, 2007 (in Japanese).

31. F. Kitagawa, ‘The Fukuoka silicon sea‐belt project—an East Asian experiment in developing trans‐national networks’, European Planning Studies, 13, 2005, pp. 793–9.