Abstract
While the industry and technology policy of Japan has been centered on public funding for promotion of R&D, the U. S. has successfully reformed its innovation system since the 1980s through enhancing academia-industry collaboration and intensifying protection of intellectual properties. This prompted a series of actions for innovation system reform in Japan, including enhancement of academia-industry collaboration through Technology Licensing Organizations and Academia-Industry-Government Summits ; promotion of protection, exploitation and creation of intellectual properties through e. g. the Strategic Program ; university reform ; support for innovative ventures ; and formation of regional industrial clusters. More effective exploitation of these systems is expected. Public funding should remain as an important part of the innovation policy. The longtime dispute over the relative importance of fundamental research and applied research is now rather irrelevant ; what is important is scenario development and evaluation to lead R&D activities to innovation.
