Japan has advanced to a leading position in numerous fields of technology since the beginning of the 1980s. The Japanese have also been major suppliers of technology to the rest of Asia. However, as Japan’s technological level has risen and technology trade with foreign countries has become more balanced, acquiring leading-edge technology from external sources has become increasingly difficult. In order to preserve long-term international competitiveness, Japan must strengthen its domestic system of innovation.
Technology and Innovation in Japan demonstrates that long-awaited changes to technology policy and corporate strategy are now taking place. This study also questions whether it is the program of reform or the will and ability to implement these reforms which is new. Contributors explore the repositioning of the Japanese science and technology system on three levels:
• institutional structure and technology policy;
• organizational and managerial changes and business-government
relations;
• developments in key technology sectors.
Hemmert and Oberlander have brought together Japanese, European and American contributors from fields of research as varied as business studies, medicine, economics, physics and policy sciences. From these diverse perspectives, all arrive at a single conclusion: at the threshold of the twenty-first century Japanese policy-makers and managers have become serious about science and technology reform.