Regional Innovation Policy and Venturing Clusters in Japan

  • Kendo Masayuki (Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University)
  • Published : 2006.09.01

Abstract

This paper reviews regional innovation policy in Japan. 'Technopolis' policy, the first technology-based regional development policy in the world, was implemented in Japan. Nonetheless, technology-based regional endogenous development did not occur. Then, regional technology transfer was pursued. In order to make use of universities and public research institutes in a region for development, university-industry collaboration and cross-over, such as university spin-offs, were promoted. Within this background, new technology-based regional development policies have been introduced based on a cluster approach. These policies are the knowledge cluster Initiative and the industrial cluster program. However, existing companies have difficulty in carrying out innovation. This paper argues that a cluster to create new start-ups that carry out innovation is also needed and explains a new concept of venturing cluster. Based on this new cluster concept, this paper analyzes the situation of Sapporo in Japan, where many university spin-offs are being created in the biotechnology field.

Keywords