Changing Policies of Research, Development, and Innovation and the Characteristics of Academics in Japan

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the changes that have occurred in Japan’s research, development, and innovation policies and among Japanese academics since the early 1990s. The chapter argues that, despite a certain continuity and coherence between these policies, they also contain dramatic changes. It is fair to say that some of these policies and strategies led to successful outcomes, while others have so far ended in failure. Further, the chapter points out that there are many daunting problems to be solved, which the national government has not paid sufficient attention to since the 1990s. For example, firstly, Japan should reconsider its modest investments in R&D and the Japanese government’s weakness in investing public funds in higher education, especially as to academic productivity in universities. Secondly, Japan needs to make more efforts to promote the R-T-S nexus, strengthening not only research universities but also teaching-oriented universities, and ensure that business makes its fair share of investments in research productivity by encouraging collaborations between industry, business, and academia.