Title: Strategies for R&D and intellectual property learned from case studies – keyword for strengthening technological competitiveness

Authors: Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA)

Addresses: The Second Subcommittee, The First Intellectual Property Management Committee, Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA), Asahi Seimei Otemachi Bldg.18F 6-1 Ohtemachi 2-chome, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo, 100-0004 Japan

Abstract: The following article, translated by Takeshi Hishinuma, presents key concepts obtained from case studies of seven global Japanese companies, achieving worldwide success mainly between 1970 and 1990. These companies have developed successful technologies and knowledge with their efficient intellectual property management. Japan, which had been notorious for copying Western technology and knowledge until the 1980s, succeeded in creating significantly advanced technologies through strenuous efforts towards indigenous intellectual assets. Naturally, companies that were surveyed disclosed only a part of their key know-how, even though the introduced technologies were relatively old. The surveyed technologies and their analysis seem to suggest that essential elements of intellectual property management enabled the creation of new technologies and knowledge industries. The analysis may suggest the process of how developing countries change due to knowledge economy.

Keywords: technology management; technology creation; knowledge creation; knowledge management; Japan; intellectual property management; IPM; intellectual property strategy; technological competitiveness; R&D; research and development; knowledge economy; new technologies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJFIP.2009.026404

International Journal of Foresight and Innovation Policy, 2009 Vol.5 No.4, pp.277 - 299

Published online: 09 Jun 2009 *

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