Coauthorship as a measure of university-industry research interaction in Japan

Abstract

Summary form only given. How closely do academia and industry in Japan collaborate in the research process? This is an important question, as the policy framework in Japan and throughout the world undergoes reevaluation as a result of the ongoing evolution of industrial innovation. It is also a difficult question for two reasons. First, the modes of university-industry interaction differ between the US and Japan. Second, for a variety of historical reasons university-industry interaction in Japan often flows through informal channels. According to our analysis, there is no question that the coauthoring of scientific and technical papers between Japanese industry and academia in Japan and abroad is prevalent and has been rising over the 1981-96 period covered in this study. In 1981, 23% of all industry papers were coauthored with academia, By 1996, this had become 46%. This rise has been enough to overtake the percentage of industry articles authored within the firm, which fell from 71% to 43% over this period. While additional work must be performed to elucidate the cause and nature of the rising trend in coauthorship in Japan, our analysis provides evidence that there is indeed a strong and increasing research interaction between industry and academia in Japan.