Promotion and Adversity in University-Industry Collaboration

The Case of the Semiconductor Research Institute in the 1960s-1970s Japan

Abstract

This study examines how university-industry collaboration was promoted in Japan during the 1960s and 1970s, a period characterized by the coexistence of science and technology promotion policies and the adversity of student movements. Focusing on the case of the Semiconductor Research Institute established in 1961 to facilitate the transfer of semiconductor engineering knowledge from universities to the industry, this study seeks to elucidate the dynamics of such collaboration. Although existing research has generally characterized the 1960s and 1970s as a period of stagnation in university–industry collaboration research owing to a growing student opposition, this study reveals that the institute remained largely unaffected by such movements, despite their geographical proximity. In fact, commissioned research and the corporate researcher dispatch not only continued but also expanded during the period, accompanied by active informal exchanges of technology. Moreover, the successful commercialization of advanced technologies such as LEDs and static induction transistors (SITs) in the 1970s further illustrates the sustained development of university-industry collaboration. These findings suggest that the “formal” frameworks for collaborative research established in the 1960s served as a foundation for “informal” channels of knowledge and capability acquisition, which in turn, fostered deep and broad partnerships unaffected by student movements, ultimately contributing to innovation and the subsequent phase of high economic growth.