METI formulated the Strategic Technology Roadmap (hereinafter referred to as "the STR") as a navigating tool for strategic planning and implementation of R&D investment in cooperation with industry, academia, and public institution. Formulating the STR is the first attempt ever not only by METI but also by Japanese government as a whole. A total of approximately 400 members were involved to study and discuss the STR under task forces, such as front-line junior researchers and those who actually use products and receive services, i. e., users, manufacturers, and medical/care workers, in order to reflect comments and advice of users' side. In addition, fundamental technologies, technology convergence and interdisciplinary issues were discussed. METI is going to keep road mapping activities ever year. METI is expecting for good communication with academia, industries and government through the road mapping so that activate national innovation system.

View full abstract

OITDA has been working on the development of the "Optoelectronics Technology Roadmap" with an aim to clearly identify the future needs of the optoelectronics technology since 1996. To now, the roadmaps for the field of optical communication, an information recording, a display, I/O, an optical measurement and sensing, a photovoltaic energy, and an optical processing were prepared. The present paper describes concrete decision work with the background, the purpose, the system of the examination, and the note etc. of the decision as an example of the optical communication field.

View full abstract

Japan Chemical Innovation Institute (JCII) has promoted the creation of the innovative chemical technology system for the achievement of sustainable society and international competitiveness of industry with Industry-Academia-Government collaboration on the basic recognition of equal partnership. In this process, the center methodology is a road map. For us, the roadmap means visualization method of future figure and technology by sharing the vision, the process and the milestone. JCII has already announced about 60 of chemical technology road maps. In these, the road map related to securing the sustainability of the society (Sustainable Technology (ST)/ Green & Sustainable Chemistry (GSC) road map) is most important, because it will be the critical problem for human-kind in the future. In this report, we will introduce details of the road map formulation, the outline and the idea concerning the practical use, by ST/GSC roadmap as examples.

View full abstract

Road Maps for nanotech-business creations in 8 important industrial and technological fields have been established by Nanotechnology Business Creation Initiative (NBCI). On the way to establishing them, opinions of many experts in the fields were included, and the road maps of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry were considered. The industry-academia-government collaboration and the interdisciplinary fusion are very important for rapid creations of the nanotech-business. The road maps of NBCI, which show nanotech-business plans, are very effective to realize the collaboration. In addition, considering them, researchers of universities are able to have chances to make triggers of the interdisciplinary fusion.

View full abstract

The Developmental Research Works executed by AIST for support of local Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises are a project aiming at the manufacturing of technological seeds hold by AIST and Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. In evaluating the present project three opinions have been related. A) A standard by which the evaluation of transformation into business and practicability becomes possible. B) The projects are suffering from low social awareness and need PR. C) Tasks of determining stratagems for higher economic effectiveness. We think we at AIST achieved a high success rate, due to adequate management by feedback of the tasks which emerged through follow-up research of small and medium-sized enterprises tied up with AIST. Regarding furthermore the owners of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises as our clientele we engaged in the production of PR-material which should make the idea of making effective use of AIST palatable. In proposing the tasks for projects in 2006 the consideration of business plans with small and middle-sized enterprises was made compulsory and in judging the adopted tasks was likewise regarded as important.

View full abstract

I analyzed the annual conferences (theme presentations and preregistrants) and the academic journals (prepublication papers) of the Japan Society for Intellectual Production. It was revealed that the scale of the annual conferences is expanding, the contents of the presentations are diversified, the organizations of the presenters and the preregistrants are dispersing from the industry-academia collaboration related departments of national universities to other departments and organizations, the locations of the organizations of the presenters and the preregistrants are dispersed throughout the country, and the contents and the authors of the prepublication papers are diversifying. It was verified that the participants and the contents in the academic activities are diversifying and their scale is expanding, and it can be expected that the society will establish and provide the common platform for the different domains in industry, academia and government. For the continuing development of the society, it is necessary to increase the presentations on the theory of policy issues and the general theory of industry-academia collaboration issues, increase the presenters and the participants from industry and government sectors, and publish more articles of diversified contents and generate the articles trying to systematize the whole of the knowledge regarding industry-academia collaboration based on them.

View full abstract