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Introduction
EXPANDING ACCESS TO JAPANESE
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
i]
In recent years, concomitant with Japan's growing status as a technological
innovator and formidable competitor in the global economy, concern in the
United States has grown over `'asymmetries," both real and perceived, in U.S.
and Japanese reciprocal access to research and development (R&D). Concern
over a perceived imbalance in the two-way flow of scientific ideas and
information between the two countries has come to the fore in discussions among
U.S. scientific, industrial, and political leaders. Due to the "openness" of the
U.S. system, Japanese scientists and technical personnel have generally had free
access to U.S. R&D information, which they have used to develop technology-
based commercial products for the global market. The result has been
unprecedented challenges to the U.S. economy. Moreover, as Japan moves into
the reahn of truly innovative R&D, concern in the United States has increased, in
tandem with trade and economic woes, that this situation will continue. Whether
Japan will take the lead in fields of basic research remains an open and important
question. Should this occur, opportunities for expanded access will develop, but
in the current context debates over reciprocal access highlight the dilemma of
structuring collaboration in the midst of intense market competition.
As a result, attention in the United States has begun to focus both on the
structurally based obstacles in Japan that impede foreign access to Japanese R&D
and the self-imposed structural barriers in the United States that prevent
1
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American researchers from taking full advantage of available opportunities in
Japan. Because the reasons are many and varied and largely due to economic,
cultural, and structural differences between the two countries, there is no single
solution to the problem. However, there is recognition that failure to address this
problem could have unfortunate consequences for both Japan and the United
States. Because technology and the free exchange of R&D information across
international borders have become inextricably linked to economic progress, it is
appropriate that leaders in both countries work to establish a balanced and
equitable flow of scientific personnel and information.
ACTIONS TAKEN TO IMPROVE ACCESS DURING RECENT YEARS
Some significant steps have been taken over the past five years by both Japan
and the United States that reflect both the importance of the bilateral scientific
relationship and the need to redress perceived or real imbalances. In June of 1988
President Reagan and Prime Minister Takeshita approved renewal of the U.S.-
Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology, and work has
begun within the various agencies and departments of both governments to
implement it. A key objective of the agreement from the U.S. perspective is to
achieve comparable access for U.S. industry and government researchers to key
R&D institutions in Japan.
The Japanese government has responded, both independently and as a result of
the agreement, through a number of new initiatives aimed at increasing
opportunities for foreign researchers in Japan. Concurrent with signing of the
agreement, Prime Minister Takeshita announced the allocation by the government
of Japan of more than $4 million to the United States to support long-term visits
by post-doctoral researchers to Japan. Administered in the United States by the
National Science Foundation, these fellowships are open to researchers from
government, industry, and academia who can present valid proposals and
qualifications. The Japanese have also opened new international R&D consortia
to foreign participation in fields such as high-temperature superconductivity.
Some industrial R&D consortia such as those sponsored by the Key Technology
Center1 have been opened to foreign participation, and the Human Frontier
Science Program was initiated to foster cooperative international research in the
.
1 The Key Technology Center was set up by the Ministry of Intemational Trade and Industry and the
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications with dividends from the sale of Nippon Telephone and
Telegraph (NTT) stock, following the formal privatization of N11. It acts as a kind of venture
capitalist, providing 60-70 percent of the investment in projects, with the rest of the capital from the
participating companies who actually operate the projects independently of the government. See
Appendix A of this report for more information on specific Key Technology Center projects.
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biosciences. In addition, some of Japan's largest companies such as NEC have
further opened their laboratories to foreign student researchers, and the Research
Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of
Tokyo has established chairs for foreign professors.
On the U.S. side, programs of applied Japanese studies have been established
at U.S. research universities; those established earlier are flourishing. These
programs focus on Japanese language training and Japanese laboratory
internships for science and engineering students. The largest of these is the MIT-
Japan Program established in 1981. Other leading U.S. universities such as
Stanford have established campuses in Japan to train young scientists and
engineers, and many others are offering specialized Japanese language training
for science and engineering students. In the summer of 1990 a summer institute
was established at Tsukuba Science Park for undergraduate science and
engineering students from the United States.
The U.S. government has sponsored numerous studies to improve
understanding of R&D in Japan. One of the largest of these efforts is the Japan
Technology Evaluation Program (JTECH) led by the National Science
Foundation and other government sponsors such as the U.S. Department of
Defense and the U.S. Department of Energy. Since its establishment by the
National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1983,
over a dozen JTECH reports have been issued on Japanese activities in a range of
technologies, including biotechnology and optoelectronics.2 In 1987 the
Commerce Department established an Office of Japanese Technical Literatures to
promote the wider acquisition and use of Japanese technical information in the
United States. The office has produced an annual Directory of Japanese
Technical Resources in the United States, translations of key Japanese
government and industry documents, and reports on technical developments in
Japan in such areas as biotechnology, advanced ceramics, and superconductors.4
Within the private sector, the American Electronics Association has
established a highly regarded fellowship program to send young engineers to
Japan to work in Japanese laboratories, and a number of organizations are
expanding Japanese language programs. The National Academies of Science and
Engineering have established an Office of Japan Affairs (OJA) within the
National Research Council (NRC). OJA works with the NRC's Committee on
Japan in developing programs and other activities to consider science and
technology as cnt~cal dimensions of the U.S.-Janan relationship.
-red rat
2 Further information about JTECH can be obtained by contacting the National Science Foundation.
3 The office was made an element of the Technology Policy Administration in 1989.
4 A complete listing of reports and services available through this office can be obtained by
contacting the Japanese Technical Literature Program, Technology Administration, U.S. Department
of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230.
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DIALOGUES ON SYMMETRICAL ACCESS
Despite these efforts, significant asymmetries in access to R&D (information,
people, and institutions) still remain, as does the controversy in political circles
over how to create a"level playing field" not only in the context of international
trade but also in the international scientific community. With the aim of
addressing these inequities and devising solutions to the problem, representatives
from the National Academies of Science and Engineering and Committee 149 of
the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) met in 1987 to affirm the
importance of improving access, particularly to R&D information and
organizations, in order to create an improved two-way flow of technical ideas and
personnel between the two countries. It was at this meeting that the term
"symmetrical access" was first developed. As a result of these bilateral
discussions, the participating organizations agreed to convene a series of
meetings to explore the issue of symmetrical access and the potential means of
achieving it.
The first meeting on symmetrical access was held in April 1988 at the East-
West Center. The purpose of the meeting was to explore the general concept of
symmetry in R&D. Realizing that the research systems and markets of the two
counties are different, the participants identified structural asymmetries created
by these differences that present obstacles to symmetrical access. The term
symmetrical access was adopted to emphasize the need to focus on structures and
mechanisms rather than a simple numerical companson.
In order to begin developing workable solutions to the problem, the
p~cipants at the first meeting concluded that discussions of symmetry must take
into account the realities of R&D in particular fields. It was agreed that there
should be a second meeting to focus on two specific technologies. As a result, a
meeting on "Expanding Access to Precompetitive Research in the United States
and Japan: Biotechnology and Optoelectronics," was held at the East-West
Center in January 1990 by the NRC (the operating arm of the National
Academies of Science and Engineering) and the JSPS. The two cheapen were
Dr. Gerald Dinneen, Foreign Secretary of the National Academy of Engineering,
and Dr. Michiyuki Uenohara, Executive Advisor to the NEC Corporation of
Japan.
FOCUS OF U.S.-JAPAN MEETING:
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND OPTOELECTRONICS
.
In keeping with the participants' desire to focus on the actual circumstances of
access in key fields of R&D, two cutting-edge high-technology fields were
chosen in which there is a great deal of R&D activity in Japan and the United
States and where both countries have areas of demonstrated excellence. The two
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s
fields biotechnology and optoelectronics illustrate contrasts in leadership and
capabilities and varied incentives for expanded access. Both biotechnology and
optoelectronics have been identified as emerging technologies that are likely to
offer substantial economic benefits to both countries by the year 2000.5
Contrasts in research capabilities and market positions and differences in the
R&D structures of the two countries were also seen to provide clues for expanded
cooperation. Finally, there is a record of U.S.-Japan collaborative activity in the
form of international projects, joint ventures, and university exchange in these
two fields, although the mechanisms are quite different, as will be discussed in
more detail below.
Biotechnology and optoelectronics were selected for discussion, and experts in
both fields from the two countries participated. Biotechnology is a
multidisciplinary technology based on the manipulation of organic cell life to
produce a range of applications and products in many industries, including
agriculture, chemicals, food, energy, pharmaceuticals, and water treatment. The
marriage of electronics and optics, optoelectronics combines electronic data
processing with photonic switching and transmission to produce greater
efficiency in data processing and transmission than electronics can achieve itself.
These technologies are representative of fields where one country has the lead, at
least in major areas of R&D. For example, although Japan is advancing rapidly,
the United States is recognized as a world leader in biotechnology.6 Conversely,
Japan is considered a world leader in many areas of optoelectronics.7
PRECOMPETITIVE RESEARCH
Discussions at the U.S.-Japan meeting focused on "precompetitive" work
because the prospects for collaborative R&D are, in theory, most apparent here.
5 See Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Emerging Technologies: A Survey
of Technical and Economic Opportunities, Spring 1990. According the report, the United States was
ahead of Japan in biotechnology in 1989 and behind in optoelectronics. However, the analysis led to
the conclusion that, over the longer term, the United States is likely to continue to lose ground in
optoelectronics and may "lose badly" in biotechnology vis-a-vis Japan.
6 Japan Technology Evaluation Program, JTECH Panel Report on Biotechnology in Japan, June
1985, pp. xiii-xc, 7-17. Ibis report predicted that, while the United States would continue to lead in
basic biotechnology research, the Japanese could well surpass the United States in the
commercialization of biotechnology.
7 A recent Nihon Keizai survey of 301 Japanese leaders in science and technology scored Japan
higher than the United States in optoelectronics, both for the current period and for the anticipated
scenario by the year 2000 "Kiso Kenkyuu de Yuryo na Seika wo" [The Result of Excellence in Basic
Research], Nihon Keizai, Feb. 21, 1989, p. 13. See also National Research Council, Photonics:
Maintaining Competitiveness in the Information Era, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.,
1988).
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6
Precompetitive research can be defined in numerous ways, as it can occur across
the range of R&D from basic and applied research to the manufacturing and
development stage. There is no fixed, absolute definition of what constitutes
precompetitive research, since it can and does vary widely according to field.
Within each field the following factors can influence the determination of what
research is seen as precompetitive: overall R&D investment (as the commitment
of resources increases so does the inclination toward proprietary research);
structure of the industry (size, diversity, vertical or horizontal integration);
segmentation of research (by technology or category); and overall productivity
and"vision" of the industry.
In general, it can be said that precompetitive research is a middle ground of
focused cutting-edge research that lies between proprietary research performed at
corporate laboratories and fundamental basic research conducted mainly at
universities (see Figure 1~. The results of this research are openly published,
although the research may also lead to commercial applications. There are
several motivating factors that encourage bilateral cooperation in precompeii~ave
research: first, the potential to share the high cost of major facilities and
equipment; second, the avoidance of possible duplication of effort in generic
research areas; and, third, an improvement in initial return on investment.
.!
MATURITY
BASIC APPLIED
RF9F.AR~H RF.RF.AR~H DF.VF.l.OPMF.NT MANITFA~TITR - Hi.
~ DEVELOPMENT
Hi\ PRE-COMPETITIVE RESEARCH ~ STAGE
^\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\V
IIIIIIITIIITTTTTTTT
"GREY AREA"
1111111111111111111
/// ~ ////////////// .. Jay
id// PROPRIETARY RESEARCH ///
///////~////////////~///V
PROPRIETY
CONTENT
FIGURE 1
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WHO DEFINES WHAT IS PRECOMPETITIVE?
· PRIMARILY THE ORGANIZATION PERFORMING
THE RESEARCH
· SECONDARILY THE ORGANIZATION SUPPORTING
IRE RESEARCH
· COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS
· INDUSTRY TRENDS
FIGURE 2
There are some fairly significant differences in the way that researchers and
business planners in Japan and the United States view precompetitive research,
due to the fact that a system of collective research has become institutionalized in
Japan. It is important to note that the organizations performing the R&D have the
biggest voice in defining precompetitive research, and the definition changes over
time (see Figure 2~. In many of Japan's collective projects, the numbers of
participating firms from different industries have increased, although the
increases vary by field. In the United States, antitrust regulations and other
internal restrictions make the establishment of collective research groups among
competing companies more difficult. The Japanese have shown collective
research to be "rational" in economic and technological terms, at least in the
context of their own experience.8
8 See Fumio Kodama, National Institute of Science and Technology Policy, Science and Technology
Agency of Japan, "Rivals' Participating in Collective Research: Its Economic and Technological
Rationale," paper presented at International Conference on Science and Technology Policy Research,
Feb. 2-4, 1990, Shimoda, Japan, and at session on Expanding Access to Precompetitive Research in
Japan and the United States, Honolulu, Hawaii, Jan. 22-23, 1990. See Jonah Levy and Richard J.
Samuels, '`Institutions and Innovation: Research Collaboration as Technology Strategy in Japan,"
MIT-Japan Program Working Paper 89-02, for analysis of the political rationale for collaborative
research in Japan.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
japanese technical
