NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

January 18, 2002

The National Science Foundation's Tokyo Regional Office periodically reports on developments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission. It also provides occasional reports on developments in other East Asian countries.

Tokyo Office Report Memoranda are intended to provide information for the use of NSF program officers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.

In order to attain the Government of Japan’s goal of becoming a “technology-oriented nation” in the 21st Century, the need to establish better mechanisms for facilitating research collaboration among university-industry-government has been receiving a great deal of attention. To improve what is widely regarded as the current inflexible and insufficient mechanism for such collaboration and to provide the opportunity for the top leaders of the three sectors to get together to exchange ideas, further mutual understanding, and foster mutual trust, the first Summit Meeting for Collaboration among Industry, University, and Government was held on November 19, 2001 at Keidanren Hall in Tokyo, sponsored by the Cabinet Office, Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations), and the Science Council of Japan, and co-sponsored by MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry).

The meeting, the schedule of which is as Attachment B, was attended by about 300 people (about 100 from industries, 100 from universities, and rest from governmental organizations) plus about 50 from the media. Three keynote speeches were followed by a panel discussion which focused on the following points:

Importance of exchange among different fields
Creation of venture companies at universities
Internationalization of industry-university collaboration
Promotion of science and technology in regional areas
Promotion of university reform
Strengthening the financial infrastructure at private universities.

The conference adopted a declaration at the end of the meeting, which appears as Attachment A. To make the movement known widely throughout the nation, the November meeting has been and will be followed by similar meetings in regional areas as below:

Additionally, on December 11, 2001, RIETI (Research Institute of Economy, Trade an Industry), an autonomous think tank supported by METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry), sponsored a symposium titled “Designing Industry-University Collaboration: Impact on University Reform” at the Science Council of Japan, inviting Dr. Richard Nelson from Columbia University, Dr. David Hodges from UC Berkeley, and Japan's S&T Minister Koji Omi to give major addresses.

Thus, the need of industry-university-government collaboration, including university reform, has begun to be widely called for all over Japan. Such efforts, being initiated by the governmental organizations, are expected to bring flexible, efficient, and internationally-acceptable mechanism for collaboration among industry, university and government in the near future.

November 19, 2001

We, human beings, are facing disorders which have come to be seen anywhere in the world and with deterioration of the global environment. Each country now needs to find out measures to cope with these problems and implement those measures in all their activities. As to our nation, we are under strong pressure to revitalize our economy, strengthen international competitiveness, and reverse the hollowing out of industry. To cope with such circumstances, science and technology and new industries based on science and technology are expected to perform important roles.

The role of this nation, which has accumulated a huge potential during the process of rapid economic growth, is to foster individuals' ideas and creativity free from restrictions in order to solve global problems. Also its role is to establish a society with flexibility where the nation's people have the opportunities to challenge without fear and make full use of the potential. These conditions can be made possible by further promotion of the establishment of a "Science and Technology-oriented Nation," which is the ideology of our nation in the 21st Century, and also by strengthening our nation's industrial competitiveness through the promotion of basic research and use of research results.

The potential is in the production power of industries and research power of universities. To let the potential be reflected in reality, the importance of industry-university-government collaboration has long been called for. However, due to the inflexibility of the system and lack of the efforts of those concerned, the collaboration among the three sectors has not shown satisfactory progress. It is now critical to carry out the collaboration.

The participants to the Summit Meeting today share such recognition and set up the initiatives in the future as follows and do their best to carry them out.

1.  Industrial Initiative

    - Industries should get rid of the in-house research and development and promote the creation of new technologies and new services by positively using intellectual potential at universities.

    - The top managers of industries should establish specific collaborations with universities as part of their strategy and collaborate with universities in research and development and in personnel exchange.

2.  University Initiative

    - Universities should establish the principle that strengthening collaboration with industries is extremely important to promote education and research at universities, and strengthen their stance as organizations.

    - National universities should promote reforms including a shift towards becoming organizations of non-government employees. By doing so, all the national, public and private universities can develop independent and flexible operation to promote industry-university-government collaboration.

3.  Government Initiative

    - Government respects the roles of both industry and university and promotes structural reforms to promote active collaboration between them. At the same time, the government strongly promotes various policies, including fostering of university-based venture companies and promoting local science and technology.

4.  Periodical Summit Meetings for Collaboration among industry-university-government

    - To establish mutual understanding and trust among industry-university-government, Summit Meetings for Collaboration among Industry-University-Government will be held periodically in the future.

November 19, 2001

By:    Koji Omi, Minister of State for Science and Technology
         Takashi Imai, Chairman, Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations)
         Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President, Science Council of Japan

1. Opening (13:30-13:50)
    Remarks: Koji Omi: Minister of State for Science and Technology
                   Takashi Imai: Chairman, Keidanren
                   Hiroyuki Yoshikawa: President, Science Council of Japan (SCJ)

2. Ken Note Speech (13:50-14:15)
    - Industry-University-Government Collaboration in the Future
      Gen Sasaki: NEC Chairman

    - University Reform and Ind-Univ-Gov Collaboration
      Hiroo Imura: Council for Science and Technology Policy (CSTP)

3. Policies (14:15-14:35)
    - Akio Endo, Director-General, Research Promotion Bureau, MEXT
    - Kazumasa Kusaka, Director, Industrial Technology Environment Bureau, METI

COFFEE BREAK

4. Panel Discussion (14:55-16:45)
    "Toward the Establishment of Industry-University-Government Collaboration"

    Moderator
    Etsuhiko Shoyama: Hitachi Mfg. Co.
    Hiroyuki Yoshikawa: SCJ

    Panelists:
    Koji Omi: S&T Minister
    Hiroyuki Yoshino: President of Honda Co.
    Ikunoshin Kato: Vice President, Takara Brewery Co.
    Takashi Yamamoto: President, Frontier Technology Incubation Center Co., Ltd.
    Tadahiro Oomi: Tohoku University Future S&T Collaboration Research Center
    Kiyoshi Kurokawa: Dean, Tokai University Medical Department

5. Summit Declaration (16:45-16:50)
    Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President, Science Council of Japan

6. Closing Remarks (16:50-16:55)
    Koji Omi

II. Press Conference (17:00-17:30) 9th Fl.
        Koji Omi
        Takashi Imai
        Hiroyuki Yoshikawa

III. Reception (17:30-19:00) 12th Fl. (ONLY LIMITED PEOPLE)
        with:
        Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister
        Takashi Imai, Chairman, Keidanren
        Atsuko Toyama, Minister, MEXT
        Takeo Hiranuma, Minister, METI
        Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, President, SCJ