Biotechnology in Japan: A lesson in logistics? Part I: The political substrate

Abstract

Japan, like Europe and the USA, has accepted the challenge of biotechnology, which opens up the way towards new fundamental knowledge and capabilities. Government and industry have joined forces to exploit biotechnology as a means of restructuring whole sectors of the country's economy, to ensure their continued viability in the coming decades. The strategy the Japanese have adopted in their bid for world leadership in this area differs from those of the Western countries. The extraordinarily complex infrastructure created for this purpose and its functional efficiency are unparalleled and evince the innate force and ingenuity of Japanese competition.