Commercialising University Inventions in Japan

Christopher Heath

 

I.     Introduction

II.    Research Policy of Japan

1.   Background

2.   Research Expenditures and Activities

3.   Results of R&D Expenditure

4.   Legislation

5.   The Dark Side of the Moon

III.   Imitation, Innovation and Technical Progress

1.   Development of Intellectual Property

2.   Rules on Technology Transfer

IV.   University Inventions Phase I: 1967-1998

V.    University Inventions Phase II: The New Age

1.   Soul-searching in the Wake of the Economic Crisis

2.   The 1998 Act on the Promotion of University Inventions

3.   Current Structure and Organisation of Technology Transfer Centres in Japan

4.   Dealing with the Issue of Ownership

5.   Information Policy

6.   Evaluation and Outlook

VI.   Appendix

 

I.     Introduction

If statistics are to be believed, there are huge discrepancies between Japan and the United States regarding the cost/output equation of research results. While both countries spend roughly equal amounts of money on universities proper,^[1] about 3 trillion Yen (3,000,000,000,000 = 3 billion Euro) Japanese universities have almost the double number of researchers (240,000 versus the United States with 130,000).^[2] The output in terms of patents and royalties reveals huge discrepancies, however. While US universities obtained 5,100 patents, the figure in Japan stood at only 137.^[3] Even more discrepant are the royalty fees deriving therefrom: while Japanese universities received a meagre amount of 30 million Yen, US universities managed to get 50 billion Yen, that is 1,600 times as much. In other words, with the same amount of investment in university education and research, US researchers were able to obtain 40 times more patents and 1,600 times more royalties. In a country of sparse natural resources that since its opening to the world in 1868 has issued the motto

 

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