Abstract
The Japan Society for Science Policy and Research Management (JSSPRM) has witnessed, since its foundation 17 years ago, the rapid decline of the Japanese economy. The government policies in this peirod have helped improvement of competitiveness of the national industry by promoting commercialization of outcomes of academic research. However, the improvement is one in comparison with the past Japan, and the national competitiveness still falls behind other countries. Fostering new industries implies not only research and development per se, but also enhancements of other factors such as marketing, intellectual property strategy, and dealing with national and international legal problems. Meanwhile, some industrialists seem to tend to pursue short-term success by speculative means instead of laborious technology development efforts, resulting in the current poor performance of the Japanese economy. JSSPRM should cover, beyond research on planning methods and case studies, all processes and factors that contribute to commercial success.
