Evaluation of public research by Japanese industry: the importance of knowledge transfer pass on public-private research collaboration

Abstract

Due to the recent trend towards the incorporation of increasingly advanced and complex technologies in high-tech products and services, the full benefit of these advanced technologies cannot be realised without access to adequate science-based knowledge. Consequently, the distance of university and industry has become closer. This paper focuses on recent trends in public-private research collaboration in Japan and examines the importance of information sources/activities from public research by assessing the results of a questionnaire survey for the industry. The main findings are that 'discussions', 'cooperative research with the public sector' and 'publications from public research' are the most useful information sources for industrial R&D, while 'patents/licensing from public research' are the least. A serious mismatch is seen in incentives between the public sector and private sector on publicprivate collaboration and intellectual property transfer system.