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Japan's Unique Capacity to Innovate: Technology Fusion and Its International Implications
Pages 147-164

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From page 147...
... Typical examples are digital clocks and electronic calculators. In the machine tool case, the diffusion rate of mechatronics technology can be measured by the ratio of the numerically controlled machine tools to the total production of machine tools.
From page 148...
... Thus there seems to be a positive correlation between the diffusion rate and growth. This indicates the possibility that the group whose growth is stagnant may regain a growth momentum with the introduction of mechatronics technology.
From page 149...
... In the Fortune piece, an expert commented that the Japanese lead is very considerable, and there is little evidence that anything we are doing in this country will close the gap in the near future. Characterization: Technology Fusion Conventional wisdom holds that technical innovation is achieved by breaking through the boundaries of existing technology.
From page 150...
... It also goes beyond interindustry relationships, because different innovations in different industries progressed in parallel, taking the form of joint research. NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR TECHNOLOGY FUSION Expected Technological Advances Roughly every five years, Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry draws up a list of major fields of technology.
From page 151...
... The low expectations regarding aerospace and energy, however, merit particular attention. It is widely known that state-sponsored aerospace and energy projects, many of which are military related, have produced numerous breakthroughs in new materials, electronics, and software, in the form of spin-offs.
From page 152...
... Tadahiro Sekimoto, president of NEC Corporation, has pointed out that developments in the electronics industry depend on developments in materials research. Along the same lines, Professor Hiroshi Inose, winner of the
From page 153...
... Fourth-generation materials will be designed according to usage by controlling the behavior of atoms and electrons in the materials, in the same manner in which we design equipment and systems. Increasing expectations regarding new, directly applicable materials technology reflect, at least in part, a dramatic change in the nature of technological innovation in the materials field.
From page 154...
... We can find early indications of this possibility in the recent Japanese development of optical fiber technology, in which NTT, the customer for optical fiber, developed the manufacturing technology. Biotechnology: Rational Drug Design The concept of "technology fusion" can be extended further beyond physical sciences and chemistry.
From page 155...
... The Ajinomoto Group pioneered the invention of a manufacturing method applying chemical synthesis and a combination of the above two processes, while the Kyowa Hakko Group took the initiative in establishing a manufactunug technology based on fermentation processes. Through a fierce development race run by private businesses around 1955, solid foundations TABLE 5 Data for Commercially Produced Amino Acids Amino Acid Present Source Potential for Application of Biotechnology Arginine Gelatin hydrolysis Fermentation Aspariic acid Bioconversion Bioconversion of fumaric acid Citrulline Fermentation Glutamic acid Fermentation De nova synthesis Glutamine Extraction Fermentation Histidine Fermentation Leucine — Fermentation Lysine Fermentation (80%)
From page 156...
... Many new processes derived from these studies, ranging from a glutamic acid fermentation that used wild strains to a direct fermentation process that is applying mutant strains, and included a precursor process developed to avoid metabolic obstruction as well as an enzymatic process that is combined with chemical synthesis. As a result, it became possible to produce almost all types of amino acids with microbes, as shown in Table 5.
From page 157...
... Kodama, Analyzing Japanese High Technologies: The Techno-Paradigm Shift, (London and New York: Pinter Publishers, 1991)
From page 158...
... According to Christopher Freeman, the widespread generalization of information technology, not only in the leading branches but also in many branches of the economy, is possible only after a period of change and adaptation of many social institutions to the potential of the new technology. Whereas technological change is often very rapid, there is usually a great deal of inertia in social institutions.8 Technology Fusion as an Underlying Trend We can synthesize those categories of techno-paradigm shift described above around the concept of technology fusion.
From page 159...
... High technology may thus change the conventional wisdom in theories of business administration and international relations. Corporate Strategy: New Technical Alliances The inadequacy of solutions for trade friction, based on the old paradigm of trade theory, can be best illustrated by the U.S.-Japan trade agreements in two important industrial sectors: the automobile and semiconductor industries.
From page 160...
... The change of leadership will more and more occur across national boundaries, thus making it impossible to define international competition in technological development using conventional patterns. As the challenge for high tech leadership comes from seemingly unrelated industries, without regard to the country of origin, international agreements among companies in the same industrial sector to avoid competitive pressure could easily be rendered meaningless.
From page 161...
... Suppliers that were heavily involved included Nikon, which developed the optical wafer stepper; JOEL, which developed electron beam lithography; printing companies, which developed lithography; and silicon crystal suppliers. In Figure 1, major actors involved in the Japanese development of VLSI and the technical linkages among them are depicted.
From page 162...
... The shift to technology fusion is well reflected in recent changes in the way in which research consortia are organized. The analysis of membership in research associations reveals that the average number of industrial sectors per project is increasing, while the number of participating companies per industrial sector is stable or decreasing.
From page 163...
... The average number of industrial sectors represented in the 13 research associations established between 1970 and 1974 is 2.2 sectors per project. This number has increased steadily since.
From page 164...
... The inclusion of foreign companies that have unique technical competence, therefore, might enhance the probability that global technological networking will result in heightened technology fusion in fields in which domestic organizations do not have high competence.


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