A recent article in the economic paper Nikkei Shimbun started with a disappointed statement: “Inventions made in Japanese universities are not leading to revenue. The value of a Japanese university’s patent is 22 times less than one from an American university. Investment by corporations in universities is also relatively small compared to overseas. Unless we can appropriately evaluate and use academic activity and its results economically, academia will lose its human resources and the research environments of universities will continue in a downward spiral.”[1]
However, efforts and successes (or at least some progress) has been noted in the Japanese media recently. This year’s Daigaku Factbook, focusing on trends and results with regard to academic-industry partnerships and enterprises in Japan’s research universities, came out at the end of June. One writer pointed out that the most-honored school in Japan, Tokyo University, was passed up by a western rival (Osaka) in the amount of research funds it garnered for collaborative research with corporations.[4] In fact, although Tokyo had more projects (even in high-value projects), Osaka University’s overall value of its fewer high-value projects was greater.[2] So universities are striving to make profit and to market themselves to possible partners.
In a different article, Public Profitable Research Platform turned not toward the low profits made on academic research. Instead, it has been trying to highlight the example of Tokyo University in birthing and working with many venture corporations in cutting-edge fields such as AI and robotics.[3] While obviously not going to appear as high-value research collaborations, these sending out of academics as entrepreneurial researchers is another metric–one that, in Japan where so many corporations are considered small or medium, is important.
There are many ways to look at the situation in Japan’s academic research and related intellectual property. It may be that it is a great untapped resource for foreign corporations and university researchers to profit with academic researchers, if they can find the right bridge. (IP scouting and transfer companies like Japan Technology Group are a great possibility.)
* The information provided on this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended as legal advice.
** For questions or consultation, please contact us for more information.
Taro Yaguchi.
Sources
[1] GOSOH, Shiori. “大学の特許収入、日本は米の22分の1 進まぬ産学連携 [Japanese universities’ patent revenue 1/22 of American counterparts; academia-industry collaboration unable to progress].” Nikkei Shimbun. https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO60612970R20C20A6NN1000/ June 22, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2020.
[2] Japan Business Federation; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Daigaku Factbook 2020 [University factbook 2020], section 1. https://www.mext.go.jp/content/20200630-mxt_sanchi01-000008172_01.pdf Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Japan. June 30, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2020.
[3] Public Profital Research Platform. “【東大発ベンチャーカオスマップ 2020年版 発表！ 】 AI・ロボティクス・バイオなどの領域を中心に、東京大学の研究成果を事業化する注目のベンチャー企業を紹介 [Tokyo University Ventures chaos map 2020 released! Introducing venture companies building on Tokyo University’s research results in AI, robotics, bio, and other fields].” PR Times. https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000001.000057758.html June 24, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2020.
[4] TOMIOKA, Akira. “大学の研究資金等受入額、大阪大学が東京大学を抜いて1位に【文科省・経産省「大学ファクトブック2020」】 [Osaka University passes up Tokyo University in research funds received among universities to be No. 1 . . . ].” https://webtan.impress.co.jp/n/2020/07/03/36599 July 3, 2020. Accessed July 7, 2020.
