The Journal of Science Policy and Research Management

The Structural Reforms for Science and Technology Basic Plan

Masaru SUGIURA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 130-131
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_130

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To realize the concept of the Science and Technology Basic Plan, it is necessary to promote the reforms of social structures and awareness. The flexibility in managing national research institutes is greatly enhanced by introducing independent administrative systems by enacting the new law. This fact shows the importance of reforms to remove the original causes. Basic Plan also shows the importance to increase the mobility of researchers. For this purpose, the new systems to increase post-doctoral researchers, term employment and others are prepared. But there are some difficulties in ensuring mobilization of researchers in the social environment where the lifetime employment still remains. By improving the systems and integrating young researchers activities, it is expected to deepen the social awareness. These efforts will also make the systems attractive to industries.

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Japan's Policy Innovation in Science and Technology : From science and technology policy to innovation policy(<Special Report>RECENT TRENDS IN INNOVATION POLICY)

Masayuki KONDO

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 132-140
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_132

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While Japanese economy strangled and its competitiveness went down in the 1990s, Japanese science and technology showed a fairly good performance. In order to make this well-performing science and technology to contribute to the society and economy, Japanese government introduced policy innovation in science and technology. This policy innovation pursues three directions : from bottom-up to top-down, from input-focus to policy-cycle-type, and from science and technology policy to innovation policy. The former two directions are related to the third direction. The policies related to the third direction includes policies to promote collaboration among universities, public research institutes and industry, policies to promote university spin-offs, and policies to change national universities and research institutes into independent agencies.

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Trends in the Japanese Innovation Policy(<Special Report>RECENT TRENDS IN INNOVATION POLICY)

Toshihiko NOMI

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 141-148
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_141

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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.

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Innovation Policies and University-industry Relationship(<Special Report>RECENT TRENDS IN INNOVATION POLICY)

Sachi HATAKENAKA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 149-158
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_149

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Policies to promote university-industry relationships have become central for innovation policies in most countries. The objective of this article is to review the role universities can and cannot play in promoting industrial innovations, to develop a conceptual framework for improving their contribution, and to recommend directions for future policies. Based on the observation that universities contribute at a higher level in new industries than in older ones, the article argues that there are three conceptually different ways through which their contributions can be enhanced by means of their ability to successfully launch new fields of science. These three ways are : improving the level and volume of science, changing the orientation of science towards Pasteur's Quadrant so that basic research may be supported with broad future applicability in mind, and improving the mechanisms through which scientific research is conducted at the organizational level. The article recommends future policies to tackle these issues by increasing competition in research funding, by diversifying the sources of scientific funding, and by supporting bottom up organizational changes such as redefinition of internal and external boundaries at universities.

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Regionalisation of Innovation Policies in the Knowledge Economy : A comparative perspective(<Special Report>RECENT TRENDS IN INNOVATION POLICY)

Fumi KITAGAWA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 159-171
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_159

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This article contributes to discussions on the geographical dimension of innovation systems by shedding light on recent processes of 'regionalisation of innovation policy' in different national contexts. Current innovation policies as evolving in some of the EU countries and in Japan are critically examined in light of the development of regional innovation systems set within multi-level governance structures of knowledge production. In the concluding section, policy implications are discussed and opportunities and constraints that may present themselves from the current structural change in the global knowledge economy are identified. The article argues that the limited multi-level governance structure has hindered the evolution of regional innovation systems in Japan. Attention needs to be drawn to the formation of appropriate governance structures. Governance of science and innovation policy needs to be situated within a wider geographical and intellectual paradigm extending beyond the national framework. Creation of the right institutional set-up and co-ordination of various actors at regional, national and global levels are needed.

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Trends of Innovation Policy in OECD and Other Countries(<Special Report>RECENT TRENDS IN INNOVATION POLICY)

Kazuhiko OHKUMA, Ryo HIRASAWA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 172-179
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_172

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While much attention is paid to innovation, many countries have difficulties in developing effective innovation policies. This paper critically reviews trends in innovation policy, principally based on OECD information. Acting as an international basis for policy studies, OECD has performed international surveys on national innovation systems and benchmarking of pioneering cases. Once being simply policy on R&D, the innovation policy has developed into coordination within individual areas and organizations, e. g. for human resources and, furthermore, it is on the track of a unified, coherent body of policies. While discussion has so far been focused on improvements of technology-push, linear type of policies, market-pull, nonlinear mechanisms and linkage with them should also be studied. Apart from these integration processes on a system level, problems on actors and contents need to be approached in an appropriate manner.

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[title in Japanese]

Article type: Bibliography
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 181-185
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_181

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Behavioral Scientific Analysis for R&D

Kazunobu OYAMA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 187-202
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_187

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This paper proposes an approach of Behavioral Scientific Analysis (BSA) for R&D activities in the firm. This approach has been found to be very useful for an efficient management of R&D activities. The BSA categorizes the researcher's activities in R&D processes, as well to try to exhibit the performance of the R&D activities. The Milestone Method, which measures qualitative performance, is discussed here. The BSA tries to explain which activities are the most effective for the best performance of the R&D. The paper includes actual data from the activities done by four researchers who work at the same laboratory in a firm. Their daily activities and their performance were recorded for about one year. It is important to notice that each researcher has a different R&D theme. The BSA studied in this paper proposes four patterns for effective R&D activities. The most effective activity pattern may be decided considering the R&D stage, the researcher's familiarity with the R&D theme, and other characteristics of the R&D theme. I hope the discussion about the BSA presented in this paper will stimulate further developments in the new area of efficient management of R&D.

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A Study of Japan's Knowledge-Workers' Distribution and Cities as Ba (Places) to Nourish Knowledge Creation

Masahiko KOMORI

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 203-213
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_203

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A survey of Japan's cities has been conducted based on educational and occupational census data. Japan's knowledge-workers are found to be inhabitants of suburban, high-quality-life cities such as Musashino, Bunkyo, Kokubunji, Asao (Kawasaki), Koganei, Aoba (Yokohama), Kamakura, Kunitachi, Shibuya, Suginami, Tama (Kawasaki), as well as certain regional hub cities. They have access to many conveniences and life amenities. They tend to be wealthy and tolerant of diversity. However, many of these knowledge-workers have long daily commutes, because of the importance of face-to-face communication, which often occurs at headquarters in urban centers. Possibilities for productively utilizing knowledge-workers include the following : (a) promote innovation through the fusion of work, life and culture in suburban cities ; (b) provide knowledge-workers with work-home proximity through inner-city renovation ; (c) utilize young/foreign knowledge-workers in regional hub cities. If diverse cities retain diverse knowledge-workers, their interaction will contribute to the cities' and nation's competitiveness.

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R&D Performance and Communication : Multi-agent simulation and case study

Kenichi KUWASHIMA, Nobuo TAKAHASHI, Masaki TAMADA

Article type: Article
2004 Volume 19 Issue 3_4 Pages 214-225
Published: December 24, 2004
Released on J-STAGE: December 29, 2017

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.20801/jsrpim.19.3_4_214

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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the organizing process of projects, which affect the performance of research and development (R&D) crucially, by using agent-based simulation and case study. We develop an agent-based simulation model that contains two types of R&D style : Japanese pharmaceutical companies' style and Merck's style. As a result of simulation, it is proven that the senior managers observed in Merck who have high communication capabilities, we call the person "HWCM (Heavy-Weight Communication Manager)" in this paper, contribute to the start-up speed of the projects. Based on the result of simulation, we analyze the case of Merck again and try to show the effect of HWCM for high R&D performance of Merck.

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