Past and Future of Cooperative Research between University and Industry in Japan

Abstract

Cooperative research between university and industry is an effort toward innovation and social implementation based on basic research in academic sector. According to data from MEXT, so far both of accepted amount of money and number of cases of University-Industry cooperative research in Japan have been almost continuously increasing. In this preface I touch upon a few circumstances in which the relationship between university and industry is not going smoothly. Then I consider what will be the influences of COVID-19 related economic shock on University-Industry cooperative research, referring to the situation caused by Lehman shock after 2008. In the final section I also speculate what will be the impacts of digital transformation (DX) on the environment surrounding University-Industry cooperative research.