[Key issues]
Focusing on the U.S. as the world leader in the field of information technology, AITEC has investigated
- the structures, systems and management methods of research and development in information technology supported by the federal government, and
- the support systems to commercialize the results of research and development. By comparing the results with the present situation of Japan, AITEC has investigated and analyzed Japan's weaknesses.
AITEC has divided the research and development course, from the outset through to marketing of the results, into the following four stages, and has compared the roles of the government, industry and academia.
- Upstream stage: Many ideas are generated, and research and development begins with a fixed budget.
- Midstream stage: As research develops, selection progresses due to competition. More capital and human resources are invested.
- Downstream stage: Many ideas and interim results of research and development are collected, and pilot production of a partial or integrated system is carried out. This pilot production allows the commercialization potential to be assessed objectively.
- Industrialization stage: A company is formed to develop a system that will become a product based on the pilot production. Products are marketed, aiming to create new markets.
The investigation showed that there is strong structural support for researchers and entrepreneurs, helping them to carry their ideas from the "Upstream stage" through to the "Industrialization stage".
Behind this efficient structure for strengthening technological development capabilities and industrial competitiveness lie the following policies.
- The government discloses information promptly and in detail. A law for information disclosure has been enacted and is revised as needed.
- Research themes are selected and evaluated fairly based on the open and competitive principle at universities and research organizations.
- Administrative agencies employ experts in various fields (called "program managers") to identify and select promising research themes, and to manage and evaluate projects. Systems are in place to execute budgets practically and also modify or cancel projects flexibly.
- Based on the philosophy that "The benefits of tax-supported research and development should be returned to taxpayers after commercialization of the results", the government provides services to help bring products to market.
- The U.S. government supports industrialization such as by granting part of royalties or priority implementation rights in the case of industrialization to the inventor or university concerned, when research results are sold.
- The U.S. government focuses the human resources of academia and industry as well as private capital on certain fields, by setting a vision for technology development and by announcing fields for priority investment. It has also established an organization across the various ministries and government offices for advising the government on ways to strengthen industrial competitiveness and implement such measures.
[Explanation]
The U.S. started to prepare the structures and systems for technology development as well as the supporting laws and organizations in the first half of the 1980s. U.S. high-tech companies at the time sensed crisis, as they fought for market share against foreign companies such as those of Japan.
There was thus a nationwide effort to reinforce industry such as the pro-patent policy, aimed at reviving the strength of the U.S. Early in the 1990s when the Clinton-Gore administration was established, these efforts began to bear fruit. The new government initiated a succession of new projects, such as the High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) project for new information technology, which included a construction project of the National Information Infrastructure (NII), the Next Generation Internet (NGI) project, Electronic Commerce (EC) using NGI project, and the Electronic Library project.
Once the government had set a clear vision for the future, private investment in the information industry and research and development of the technology related to advanced information in the government, industry and academia became active. Thus was born the Internet system, which is having a huge impact on socio-economic activities and structures.
Economy, which depends on a new industrial structure and new business supported by the advanced information technology, is called "digital economy".
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