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Japan Research and Development
As its economy matured in the 1970s and 1980s, Japan
gradually
shifted away from dependence on foreign research. Japan's
ability
to conduct independent research and development became a
decisive
factor in boosting the nation's competitiveness. As early
as 1980,
the Science and Technology Agency, a component of the
Office of the
Prime Minister, announced the commencement of "the era of
Japan's
technological independence."
By 1986 Japan had come to devote a higher proportion of
its GNP
to research and development than the United States. In
1989 nearly
700,000 Japanese were engaged in research and development,
more
than the number of French, British, and West Germans
combined. At
the same time, Japan was producing more engineers than any
country
except the Soviet Union and the United States. Similar
trends were
seen in the use of capital resources. Japan spent US$39.1
billion
on government and private research and development in
1987,
equivalent to 2.9 percent of its national income (the
highest ratio
in the world). Although the United States spent around
US$108.2
billion on research and development in 1987, only 2.6
percent of
its income was devoted to that purpose, ranking it third
behind
Japan and West Germany.
The Japanese reputation for originality also increased.
Of the
1.2 million patents registered worldwide in 1985, 40
percent were
Japanese, and Japanese citizens took out 19 percent of the
120,000
patent applications made in the United States. In 1987
around 33
percent of computer-related patents in the United States
were
Japanese, as were 30 percent of aviation-related patents
and 26
percent of communications patents.
Despite its advances in technological research and
development
and its major commitment to applied research, however,
Japan
significantly trailed other industrialized nations in
basic
scientific research. In 1989 about 13 percent of Japanese
research
and development funds were devoted to basic research. The
proportion of basic research expenses borne by government
is also
much lower in Japan than in the United States, as is
Japan's ratio
of basic research expenses to GNP. In the late 1980s, the
Japanese
government attempted to rectify national deficiencies in
basic
research by waging a broad "originality" campaign in
schools, by
generously funding research, and by encouraging private
cooperation
in various fields.
Most research and development is private, although
government
support to universities and laboratories aid industry
greatly. In
1986 private industry provided 76 percent of the funding
for
research and development, which was especially strong in
the late
1980s in electrical machinery (with a ratio of research
costs to
total sales of 5.5 percent in 1986), precision instruments
(4.6
percent), chemicals (4.3 percent), and transportation
equipment
(3.2 percent).
As for government research and development, the
national
commitment to greater defense spending in the 1980s
translated into
increased defense-related research and development.
Meanwhile,
government moved away from supporting large-scale
industrial
technology, such as shipbuilding and steel. Research
emphases in
the 1980s were in alternative energy, information
processing, life
sciences, and modern industrial materials.
Data as of January 1994
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