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~2
Structural Problems That
Impede Access
it
In examining the barriers to access it is important to look first at the large
systemic obstacles that inhibit access across a spectrum of fields and second at
those problems that are specific to certain fields. Earlier discussions about
symmetrical access as well as the preliminary survey identified some of the
generic obstacles that present barriers to U.S. researchers attempting to
participate in and learn from R&D in Japan. The reasons are many and difficult
to resolve outside the context of a specific technology or field. Because U.S.
access and experience in Japan are comparatively limited, contradictory reports
from various institutions and individuals are more difficult to evaluate than they
would be in the context of broader, deeper experience. While it would be
impossible in this report to cover all the various perceived and real barriers to
access, there are some general themes from the discussions of optoelectronics and
biotechnology that were corroborated by the survey respondents.
At a general level there are significant differences in the R&D systems of the
two countries: Japan's excellence in applied product-oriented research carried
out in corporate labs that are less accessible to foreigners than university or
government labs, contrasted with the comparative excellence of the United States
in basic research. Another major difference lies in the preponderance of Japanese
researchers sent to the United States, many under the sponsorship of corporations.
A discussion of structural barriers is not complete without some examination
of the factors that inhibit U.S. researchers from taking full advantage of the
opportunities and information that are accessible in Japan. These include lack of
knowledge about Japan in general and science and technology in particular, a
14
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"not invented here" outlook that renders as less valuable information obtained
outside U.S. borders, and lack of proficiency in the Japanese language. Many
American researchers who have worked to overcome these limitations and spent
significant amounts of time in Japan also find that their efforts are not rewarded
by their home institutions. U.S. organizations are still ill equipped to utilize
foreign-acquired information. Both Japan and the United States are taking steps
to address these structural problems.
In terms of general trends affecting both sectors, R&D investment by leading
private Japanese companies is increasing more rapidly than in counterpart U.S.
firms. In some subfields of optoelectronics, the United States is now dependent
on Japanese technology. In particular, Japanese electronics companies are
allocating considerable resources to research on high-performance, small,
"quantum" structures, although there is no comparable effort in the United States
outside a few universities. Overall, R&D investment is still higher in the United
States due in large part to bigger government outlays. But there is evidence of a
recent push by Japanese industry to increase basic research.14 In this context the
desire of U.S. researchers, particularly those in optoelectronics, to gain access to
Japanese industry-sponsored R&D is understandable.
The Japanese participants at the meeting shared data documenting the increase
in collaborative research projects involving "diversified" participation of
companies from different industries in Japanese R&D consortia.lS The formation
of these diversified consortia presents as yet unknown implications or U.S.
industry. As a fast step, more information is needed about the these projects
involving similar rival companies in Japan; the analysis and information
concerning this form of collective research are still inadequate.
In the biotechnology field the excellence of some Japanese university research
in biotechnology is becoming acknowledged in the United States. Examples of
such research include that of Professor Taniguchi at the Department of Molecular
Biology at Osaka University and the work of Professors Beppu and Karube at Be
University of Tokyo. However, despite the importance of university-based
research, both the U.S. participants at the meeting and respondents to the
preliminary survey underscored the desire of researchers in both biotechnology
and optoelectronics to have improved access to R&D going on in Japanese
corporations and consortia. From the U.S. perspective, an asymmetry is created
by the fact that cooperative research is university based in the United States,
more open to all industry regardless of nationality, whereas in Japan cooperation
is based on industry consortia which are less accessible. Japanese companies such
14 It should be noted that the telll1 "basic research" as used in Japan includes moh~eki kisokenl~u
(goal-oriented basic research).
15 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," op. cit.
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as Hitachi are establishing laboratories on the campuses of U.S. universities,
thereby deepening ties to the university research community.
In the case of biotechnology the high quality of work taking place in Japanese
biomedical research laboratories makes access to these institutions important to
U.S. biotechnology researchers. Japanese researchers are afforded free access to
American university laboratories, where informal contacts and the ability to scout
out new developments are of great benefit. An asymmetry has become
particularly apparent in the relationships between pharmaceutical companies and
universities in the two countries. The relative openness of the university system
in the United States allows free access by foreign firms, but U.S. corporations
report that they must go through third parties to make contacts with Japanese
university professors. The informal close networks of relationships between
Japanese university professors and Japanese corporations are seen by many U.S.
corporations as a particularly significant obstacle to access.16
A key point from the U.S. perspective is the difficulty of acquiring licenses to
Japanese biotechnology early in the innovation process. U.S. biotechnology
researchers express some frustration over Japanese unresponsiveness to licensing
inquiries as well as the need to utilize third parties (Japanese companies) to
obtain licensing rights. These asymmetries underscore the need to cultivate
longstanding relations with individuals and institutions in order to expand access
over the long term. It is also significant in light of the dynamic nature of the
work going on in these two fields and highlights the need to increase information
about specific types of R&D going on in Japanese institutions.
Another problem encountered by those working on research in biotechnology
concerns protection of intellectual property rights. U.S. companies lack
confidence that their innovations will be protected in Japan as they are in the
United States. Although steps have been taken at the government level to address
the problem, questions of patent enforcement limit prospects for cooperation in
the field of biotechnology. The problem is exacerbated by the long time span
between invention and patentable product created by U.S. regulations. This
leaves open opportunities for information scanning from invention to
commercialization in the United States that are not available in Japan. It should
be noted that the slowness of the patent process in Japan is a source of problems
for Japanese fines as well as foreign companies which have an added challenge
in dealing with documents written in a foreign language.
In optoelectronics a major problem is to improve knowledge of Japanese
manufacturing engineering. While opportunities for U.S. participation in
Japanese optoelectronics R&D are increasing, there is a need to consider the
quality of participation and to emphasize the value of experiences that permit the
foreign researcher to learn more about process engineering in Japan.
16 Japanese university professors are sometimes described by their peers as being associated with
. .
partlcu jar c~npames.
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To expand access in the two fields, one must also take into account that in
biotechnology the distance between precompetitive and competitive research is
short: a fine line separates early discovery from product application. By
contrast, He distance between research and product is wider in optoelectronics.
The differences in the actual state of R&D in the two fields suggest that the
problems and solutions of each should be considered separately. Differences in
the definition of precompetitive research and organizational differences in R&D
structures must be taken into account in crafting new forms of cooperative R&D.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
university professors
