The author is of the view that diligence in experimenting leads to successful research. Research leads us into the unknown world. Researchers should study reality through experiments rather than through literature, for the latter only reports what is already known. It is only experiments that drive us to the forefront of science and technology. The pool of what we know is finite; whereas that of the unknown is infinite. The pool of knowledge is however very large thanks to the efforts of many researchers. To enlarge the pool different viewpoints are needed and these come about with experiments.

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his article reviews the international trend of science and technology policy. New international rules are needed on science and technology bearing an economic and political outlook. "Disappearance of Borders", "Increase of Global Issues", and "Change of the International Order" are expressions that have to be taken into account in addressing issues on science and technology policy. The disappearance of boarders is happening at three levels: among countries, between science and technology, and between science and technology on the one hand and economics on the other. As for the global issues, the notions of "Big Science", "Advanced Basic Technology", "Global Environment", and the "Activation of World Economics" are mentioned. With regard to the change of the international order, the author brings up the issues of "East-West Reconcilliation" and the "Domestic Shift of the United States" where science and technology is regarded by the present administration as a tool to improve economic competitiveness.

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This article describes various problems in pushing forward with scientific research projects and programs which are difficult to carry out by a single country and require, therefore, cooperation among developed countries, in other words "mega-science" projects, by discussing the case of high energy physics. "Mega-science" falls mainly into two categories: "mega-science projects" that require cooperation in shifting facilities and large and expensive equipment, and "mega-science programs" that require cooperation because the research in question covers many disciplines or because the research subject cover large geographic regions. Most of mega-science projects have started with agreements at an international organization or between governments; most of mega-science programs have started with arrangements between research institutes. First, with regard to mega-science projects, the parties concerned often face problems concerning sharing of the expenses or selection of the location of research facilities. Second, with view to management, the author remarks that it is important how the decision-making system reflects the contribution by each participating country, such as the one-state-one-vote system or the system allocating votes in accordance with the share of expenses assumed. Third, the problem of securing stable income for running the mega-science projects is generally difficult to solve because government systems and mechanisms of formulating the governmental budgets differ among countries and because some countries participating in the projects face governmental changes or sudden changes in their economies and finances. Fourth, the main difficulty lies in allocating the contracts for building large-scale research facilities. There are two systems for allocating the contractrs to countries, each with merits and demeris: leaving them to free competition under the international market, and apportioning them in accordance with the share of expenses assumed. To promote mega-science in the United States, the report "Science & Technology, and the Federal Government" proposes that they be judged to which of the two types of mega-science field it falls: a field where it is enough for the United States to be one of the leaders in the world, or a field where the United States should seek definite leadership. The committee for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP) of the OECD has recently started discussions on furthering future international cooperation of science and technology. The author expects that the CSPT will play an important role in devising guidelines for international cooperation in science and technology.

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This article reports the author's view on the technological challenges posed by the energy and earth environment crises. In order to solve the problems of the earth environment, the so-called "reformists" claim that it is most important to reorganize social and economic systems; the so-called "economists", on the other hand, claim that technological development should be emphasized. The author claims that the reorganization of social and economic systems and technological development should be combined to solve the problems. Concerning international cooperation in the fields of energy and the earth environment, the author is of the view that it is important to collaborate in technological development and technology transfer with developing countries in order to contribute to improve their ability of R&D. Equally important is the international cooperation in technological development among developed countries, which aims at facilitating the development of innovative technologies. The author describes the priorities of technological development for the future as follows: towards the technology which centering around saving resources and energy, and recycling; from the technology of disposing of wastes, or "down-stream technology", to the technology of improving production processes, or "up-stream technology"; and from elementary technology to systems technology. Moreover, the author remarks that the following points are necessary in order to propel technological development: long-term views, collaborative technological development by sharing the development strategies internationally, and setting up of a system to evaluate development projects.

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When dealing with environmental problems we should be aware of the complexity involved as a result of their non-linearity. Environmental policy should recognize the limits of the resolutional analysis method. For example, the Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) method, proposed by SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry), is effective to a certain extent when evaluating a product's utility and impact on society from a specific viewpoint. The LCA method, however, can only use part of the relevant data on a given environmental aspect and therefore the result of the analysis is partial. There is also the Design for Environment (DFE) method. Without claiming to be objective, DFE is an valuable as LCA as a product and process developing method. Both approaches propose a life cycle model independent from the social setting. Those would result, therefore, in social disadvantages. With regard to recycling, the policy aimed at relieving environmental impact is an approach aiming at the self-organization and autonomy of the social system. Recycle feeds back not only the resulting materials but also elements such as information, money, and trust. Resources industries consume much energy. Resources industries, such as the cement industry in Japan, have received industrial wastes from other industries and have utilized them to make new products. Resources industries are to "reservoirs" in industrial recycling systems what the sea is to meteorologically cyclic systems on the earth.

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This article summarizes the current controlled trade systems of "technology for weapons of mass destruction". These include atomic, chemical, and biological weapons, missiles - which are the means transporting the weapons - , and technology relating to designing and producing the weapons. The article further report the flow of controlled trade of technology, after describing the recent changes of circumstances related to collective security. Regarding the flows of controlled trade of technology, the author mentions that strengthening "non-proliferation-type controlled trade", - that is to say, controlled trade of technology for weapons of mass destruction - , has expanded the control to include items which are less strategic and are mainly for commercial use, in other words, the so-called "dual-use" items. The author remarks that controlled trade of technology should also be expanded to include items which bear lower level technology, such as nuclear and chemical weapons. These weapons were developed more than a half century ago. To control this type of exports, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany introduced "KNOW-regulation" mandating exporters to request government permission whenever they know that the cargo is for weapons of destruction: Japan, on the other hand, plans to regulate the export only when the cargo is for developing or producing weapons of mass destruction because the current regulation based on items and countries places a too heavy burden on the exorters.

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This article describes the trends of Japan's Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) and the author's view of what technical assistance within ODA should be in the future. Japan is currently the largest contributor of ODA in the world and plans to deliver another seventy to seventy-five billion dollars during the next five years. ODA consists of grants, technical assistance - on a grant basis - , and loans. Japan has focused on loans. The amount of technical assistance, on the other hand, has increased year by year. Technical assistance is the so-called "assistance to enhance human resources", and consists in sending professionals to the assisted countries and receiving trainees from them. Technological systems consists of the "face", or technologies themselves such as technologies for production and know-how, and the "underside", or back-up technology system such as industrial standards and patent systems. The irreversible internationalization of production technology systems be inter-connected, which, in turn, necessitates the systematization of basic back-up technology. Thus, the author claims that technical assistance in ODA should be changed to focus on the improvement of the back-up technology system because it is the quickest and most effective way to transfer standardized individual technologies on improved back-up technology system. In fact, the Japanese government plans to implement a project starting in 1994 as a model case to improve the back-up technology system in the ASEAN region.

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There has been a strategic purpose to international standardizing activity. This article claims that international standardizing activity has become strategic for specific regions, especially Europe. The original purpose of International Standardizing activity was to smooth the flow of international trade. Its major players are the International Standardizing Organization (ISO) and the International Electric Standardizing Committee (IEC); the regulations in the GATT Standard Code for making standards constitute a new input in this area of activity. The author presents the ISO 9000 series - a standard for quality control - and the Environment Controlling Standard - a standard for controlling companies' activities affecting the environment. These are examples of new international standardizing activities, which differ from conventional ones in that they are the standards of companies' activities and in that the approval systems based on these standards are supposed. After pointing out that the Committee for European Norms (CEN) and the Committee for European Norms for Electricity (CENELEC) make standards in order to break technological barriers and enhance industrial competitiveness, the author suggests that Japan should make three times as many contributions as it makes now and not only financially but also substantially. Further, it should strengthen communication in this area of activity with the rest of the industrialized world, should particularly collaborate with Asia-Pacific countries to develop standards thereby preventing Europe's monopoly of this activity, and should strengthen the Pacific Area Standardizing Committee (PASC).

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This article presents a historical review of the historical review of the policies on intellectual property of the United States and discuss the harmonization of patent systems among countries. The USA has devised policies favoring patents since the foundation. Till the beginning of the 20th century the patent system contributed to its industrialization. After 1929, however, antitrust law was given priority over patent law. This new so-called anti-patent trend lasted for about fifty years during which the rights of the patentees were strictly restricted. The second turning point took place at the end of the 1970s. with the lowering of the USA's comparative industrial competitiveness, pro-patent policies were introduced. In particular, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) founded in 1982 played an important role in this respect as well as the "Young Report" that explicitly pointed to the importance of intellectual property as a tool of industrial competitiveness. As a result of the new pro-patent policies 1) the validity of patent rights has increased from 40% to 70%, 2) the rule of equivalence has led to a broad interpretation of rights, and 3) the amount of damages awarded has risen dramatically. With regard to the harmonization of patent systems among countries, the impact of the USA's new pro-patent policy has been felt all over the world, by the USA pointing to differences among patent systems and entering into negotiations to harmonize the systems among developed countries and to strengthen protection from patent infringement in developing countries. Two bodies have severed as the major fora for the negotiations, namely, the GATT Uruguay Round on the trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIP) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on concluding the Patent Law Treaty. The author deems it desirable to establish a consensus about patent systems and protect appropriately intellectual property worldwide.

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Japanese firms' overseas production operations in East Asian countries have advanced considerably. But, the extent of technology transfer to these overseas production operations has become a matter of controversy. This study analyzes this type of technology transfer empirically in an attempt to understand the processes by which technology transfer has progressed and the reasons why technology transfer to East Asia has occurred so rapidly. This work focuses on two cases; color television sets and cameras. With regard to the results, it can be argued that technology progress has a promotional effect on international technology transfer. Technological progress has occurred in parallel with the expansion of overseas production. Secondly, the study examines a new measure of technology transfer. This revealed that the procurement rate of parts and components reflected the status of technology transfer. Finally, the analysis of a parts procurement network for Japanese parts companies showed that East Asian countries had difficulty in using their own capital to develop technology.

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According to our experience, it is easy to proceed properly the research and development project when we can have the following two points properly before starting the project. i) To choose the most appropriate theme or project name for research or development. ii) To have the consensus and key word among the concerned people of its project, after choosing the most appropriate theme or project name. This paper reveals the new methodology quickly to proceed these and get the compact and seeable consented result diagram.

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