Commercialization of Technology by Japanese Companies

The perspectives of technologists, economists, and policymakers are brought together in this volume. It includes chapters dealing with approaches to assessment of technology leadership in the United States and Japan, an evaluation of future impacts of eroding U.S. technological preeminence, an analysis of the changing nature of technology-based global competition, and a discussion of policy options for the United States.

This title includes the following features: Identifies the source of thecompetitive problems Japan has been experiencing in the high-tech arena;Examines how Japan has responded to these problems and assesses its currentstanding; Considers the role of the Management of Technology (MOT) movement;Contributions from expert Japanese and Western academics and practitionersresearching and working in this area; The editors provide a context-settingintroduction, and thought-provoking concluding chapter

Recognizing that a capacity to innovate and commercialize new high-technology products is increasingly a key for the economic growth in the environment of tighter environmental and resource constraints, governments around the world have taken active steps to strengthen their national innovation systems. These steps underscore the belief of these governments that the rising costs and risks associated with new potentially high-payoff technologies, their spillover or externality-generating effects and the growing global competition, require national R&D programs to support the innovations by new and existing high-technology firms within their borders. The National Research Council's Board on Science, Technology, and Economic Policy (STEP) has embarked on a study of selected foreign innovation programs in comparison with major U.S. programs. The "21st Century Innovation Systems for the United States and Japan: Lessons from a Decade of Change" symposium reviewed government programs and initiatives to support the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises, government-university- industry collaboration and consortia, and the impact of the intellectual property regime on innovation. This book brings together the papers presented at the conference and provides a historical context of the issues discussed at the symposium.

The official transcript of a Congressional hearing held to explore those factors that appear to have contributed to Japan's emergence as a superpower in the production of innovative and high-quality products. Witnesses included representatives from : the Congressional Research Service; the General Accounting Office; the Council of Competitiveness; Technology International; and Search Associates.