NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE
March 14, 2003
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.
Report Memorandum #03-03
SECOND BUSINESS-ACADEMIA-GOVERNMENT SUMMIT
TOKYO, JAPAN; NOVEMBER 18, 2002
The following workshop attendance report was prepared by Dr. Christopher A. Loretz of the National Science Foundation’s Tokyo Regional Office. He can be reached at cloretz@nsf.gov.
The Second Business-Academia-Government Summit was held in Tokyo on November 18, 2002. The summit was developed to bring these three groups together for dialog and exchange of ideas with the objective of promoting science and technology in Japan. The Summit was sponsored by the Cabinet Office, the Japan Business Federation and the Science Council of Japan; there were a number of other co-sponsors at the ministerial level. Participants included representatives and members of the sponsoring and co-sponsoring groups, university research institute officers, governors and mayors, and other interested parties, including science officers from embassies. Altogether, over one-thousand people attended the Summit, well above last’s attendance of 300 at the First Summit. The theme for this year’s Summit was “Strategies for Business-Academia-Government Collaboration.”
Mr. Hiroyuki Hosoda, Minister of State for Science and Technology, convened the Summit. He highlighted clearly the underlying importance of S&T in economic growth and revitalization, and commented on the inclusion of R&D projects in the supplemental budget for the 2002 Japanese Fiscal Year. He also introduced the featured speakers (Mr. Koji Omi, Former Minister of State for Science and Technology, and Mr. Koichi Tanaka, 2002 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry from Shimadzu Corporation). The subsequent panel discussions included several Americans, including Dr. Leroy Hood, President and Director of the Institute for Systems Biology; Mr. Thomas Connelly, Senior Vice President and Chief Science and Technology Officer at DuPont Research and Development; and Governor Michael Easley, State of North Carolina. Each speaker focused on a specific aspect of the featured theme.
Mr. Omi, who initiated the Summit program last year, reviewed the purpose of the Summit in stimulating collaboration, with particular attention to engaging the skills of the university community. He reminded the audience of Japan’s self-determined target of 30 Nobel Prize awards in the next 50 years, and of the new graduate university planned for establishment in Okinawa. (This new university, with an anticipated 2007 opening date for students, will be international in nature and focus on the hard sciences and on biotechnology, especially.)
Mr. Tanaka spoke at length on his individual and collaborative company team work in time-of-flight mass spectroscopy. He noted the possible contributions of this technique to molecular identification in the growing field of proteomics, and he spoke strongly for supporting R&D activity and for anticipating the needs of researchers.
Dr. Hood spoke on his experiences in the biotechnology arena, including his work on the human genome and his founding of the Institute for Systems Biology. He itemized his inventory of important factors for success: innovation, vision, leadership, protection of IPR, partnering mechanisms, development of young researchers, and resources. He remarked that the biggest challenges to achieving success are overcoming the conservative nature of most scientists, administrative bureaucracy (which, in his experience, tends to be too inflexible) and scientific tradition (“the tyranny of academic democracy,” in his words). He added that industrial partnerships are key promoters of R&D advancement.
Mr. Connelly discussed several models for corporate collaboration covering a range of types, including full business-academia-government cooperation on a project and segregated research activities with well-defined avenues for interaction and sharing among partners. He offered specific examples from the fields of microelectronics, chemical industry and biotechnology. He mentioned specifically the NSF Science and Technology Center in North Carolina, in which DuPont participates in a project on supercritical carbon dioxide and environmentally-responsible manufacturing. Read the DuPont news release on-line at:
Gov. Easley provided a history of Research Triangle Park (RTP), and the growth of science and technology R&D activity in North Carolina. The Governor made the particular point that a strong academic community was essential for RTP development and that it continues to build the local S&T workforce in support of R&D activity. According to Gov. Easley, Japanese investment in RTP to date totals US$350 million and 2,500 jobs. Please read the Governor’s news release on-line at:
http://www.ncgov.com/asp/subpages/news_release_view.asp?nrid=420
The Summit concluded with the release of a Declaration supporting the promotion of high-quality S&T activity in Japan. The Declaration remarked on the importance of independence for young researchers, on competitiveness in project funding, and on industry-university-government organizational collaborations. The Declaration concluded by announcing the periodical nature of future Summit meetings, and an “International Forum on Science and Technology and the Future of Mankind” to be held in 2004. The latter meeting is to be “regarded as a science and technology version of the Davos Meeting.” The full translated text of the Summit is Declaration is provided here (unofficial translation of the original Japanese document provided by Ms. Kazuko Shinohara of NSF/T):
[DECLARATION TEXT]
DECLARATION FROM THE SECOND INDUSTRY-UNIVERSITY-GOVERNMENT SUMMIT MEETING (TRANSLATED FROM THE JAPANESE)
The biggest issues facing Japan at the beginning of the 21st century are revitalization of its economy, restoration of international competitiveness, and success in making structural reform to establish a strong economy. These objectives can be attained by "promotion of science and technology." It is necessary to strategically promote research and development of high quality, which will contribute to the industrial infrastructure. At the same time, it is also necessary to implement reform of the science and technology system. Among other things, the collaboration among industry, university and government is the most immediate and important issue.
Since the First Industry-University-Government Summit Meeting held last year, which was followed by industry-university-government summit meetings at various places across the nation and by the First Working-Level Industry-University-Government Meeting held in Kyoto, collaboration among the three sectors has been producing successful results at a national level.
Examples are seen as follows. The number of cooperative research projects has exceeded 5200, a 30 percent increase from the previous year. The number of university-related venture companies has reached 453, which marked a large increase of 65 percent from the previous year. Even more, in September, one of these venture companies began trading on the stock market. Also, the positive economic effect delivered through the activity of TLOs is said to have reached 10 billion Japanese Yen (ca. US$83 million).
However, the level of collaboration in Japan still lags when it is compared with the level of the collaboration in the United States. Better collaboration is strongly called for to conquer the "valley of death" that exists between basic research results at universities and commercialization.
At the Summit Meeting today, through successful examples of industry-university-government collaboration and active discussions among participants, we hereby conclude that we will focus on the following items in the future:
I. Promotion of R&D Projects That Will Revitalize the Economy
Those R&D projects that could be commercialized in a rather short period of time or contribute to establishing next-generation industrial infrastructure by utilizing knowledge, technologies and funds derived from industry-university-government cooperation will be promoted. In this way, an infrastructure for revitalizing the Japanese economy will be established, and the international competitiveness of the Japanese industries will be strengthened.
II. Promotion of Basic Research and Strategic Focus on R&D
To promote basic research of high quality and creativity that will provide the seeds of future industries, the present system for competitive research funding, including Grants-in-Aid for scientific research, will be reformed and expanded. At the same time, such competitive funds will be invested with a focus on important areas. The selection of research themes, commercialization, and industrialization will be promoted by industry-university-government collaboration.
III. Strong Support for Creating R&D-type Venture Companies
To decrease the time to commercialization and industrialization of research results at universities and companies, a system to support venture companies in their early development will be established. This will be achieved by supporting technology development at university-related venture companies and spin-off companies, and by better handling of intellectual property issues. Also, a system for launching new businesses will be established and expert leaders of venture companies will be prepared. Especially, improvement of the tax system, including the expansion of a tax system that promotes R&D, is critical and will immediately be materialized.
IV. Promotion of University Reform
During the development of industry-university-government collaborations, universities will be reformed [as independent administrative organizations]. Especially to be promoted are the national universities' transition to non-government-employee-type entities, the abolition of inbred personnel systems, the independence of young researchers, the introduction of out-sourcing, and organizational collaborations among industry-university-government.
V. Strengthening of Private University Infrastructure
To enable private universities to give full play to their abilities and to participate in the front line of science and technology research, support to private universities will be promoted so that their financial infrastructure can be strengthened. Radical tax reform will be promoted, including abolition of income tax on donations and expansion of preferential tax treatment for donations to private universities.
VI. Private Companies' Management Strategies with Industry-University-Government Collaboration in Mind
To reduce self-dependent R&D and to make use of intellectual capital at universities, companies will develop and strengthen organizational alliances through comprehensive contracts with universities, rather than personal and individual relationship with universities as they had in the past. Also, companies will be proactive in personnel exchange with universities, including accepting graduates from universities, activating exchanges with university faculty, and contributing to personnel development at universities.
VII. Promotion of Local Science and Technology
To promote industry-university-government collaboration through local reform, the establishment of "Law for Special Area" will be expedited. In this way, "Special Areas for Intelligence (intellectual capital)" will be materialized. At the same time, local clusters will develop new technologies, and new world-level industries will be established. Thus, the local economies will be shifted from a public works-oriented basis to a science and technology-oriented basis.
VIII. National Strategy for Intellectual Property
Staff to handle intellectual property-related matters will be developed, and a system established wherein it is clear to whom university research results belong and how intellectual property and technologies will be transferred. There will be expanded application of Bayh-Dole-type guidelines, and clarification of how the frontier medical technologies such as regeneration can be managed in the patent context. In this way, creation, protection, and activation of intellectual properties will be strongly promoted. Especially, by expediting the establishment of the "Intellectual Property Basic Law" the Headquarters for Intellectual Property Strategies will be established in the Cabinet, which will be able to develop various measures concerning intellectual properties as part of a national strategy.
VIII. Continuation and Promotion of Industry-University-Government Collaboration
To further strengthen the mutual understanding and reliance among industry-university-government, the "Industry-University-Government Summit Meeting" will periodically be held in the future. Also, the "International Forum on Science and Technology and the Future of Mankind," which can be regarded as science and technology version of the Davos Meeting, will be held in 2004.
November 18, 2002
HOSODA, Hiroyuki Minister of State for Science and Technology
OKUDA, Hiroshi Chairman, Japan Business Federation
YOSHIKAWA, Hiroyuki President, Science Council of Japan