Taylor & Francis Innovation Crisis: Successes, Pitfalls, and Solutions in Japan

What has gone wrong in Japan that has led to innovation crisis? Prof. Eiichi Yamaguchi has been committed to answer this question, and his quest has spanned several years and academic disciplines. Initially it appeared as if it had no context, but when he put the pieces together, he realized that it was actually one story. This book is a summary of his research over the last 20 years, especially after he moved out of the field of physics, to which he had devoted 21 years. He felt that it was essential for him to do his bit to save this sinking ship, or it would be disrespectful to the future generation. The book integrates his research on innovation policy, innovation theory, and trans-science. It begins with a detailed story of the innovation of blue LEDs, for which three Japanese scientists received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014. It describes the current innovation and science crises in Japan and presents evidence that the strong international competitiveness of science-based industries in the United States is a result of the invention of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) system. It discusses a new theory of innovation structures, showing the error in Clayton M. Christensen’s argument of “disruptive innovation.” It also proposes a new concept for “paradigm disruptive innovation,” emphasizing that abduction and transilience are essential factors for accomplishing it and that their decline has led to the innovation crisis in Japan. Finally, it analyzes the future vision of the innovation ecosystem, which promotes abduction and transilience, for scientists to develop new science-based industries. Review "This book explores the path of Japanese innovation from the 1950s through the 1990s, a period when disruptive research took place within academia and other research institutions. These early triumphs included the work of Hiroshi Amano in gallium nitride crystals, the designing of the Intel 4004 and Intel 8080 microprocessors by Masatoshi Shima, and the development of infrared semiconductor laser by Takashi Matsuoka. The book discovers that innovations in Japan would ultimately stall as conservative valuation-based criteria for research projects generally displace research efforts that can often be disruptive. It explores the philosophy underpinning the slowdown in innovation and the failure to continue developing disruptive technologies in a manner similar to those in the United States. It justifies why innovation must be driven by interactions between researchers and lay users and the focus of institutional research should shift to innovative entrepreneurial research designed specifically to discontinue existing paradigms and promote new technologies." - Prof. S. J. Gabriel, CHOICEconnect About the Author Eiichi Yamaguchi is a professor at Kyoto University, Japan, since 2014. He completed his MSc and DSc from the University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1977 and 1984, respectively. He has been senior physicist at NTT Basic Research Laboratory, executive fellow at 21st Century Public Policy Institute of Keidanren, and professor at Doshisha University, Japan. He is the founder of four start-up companies: ArcZone K.K. (1998), Powdec K.K. (2001), ALGAN K.K. (2005), and CONNEXX SYSTEMS K.K. (2011), and is currently a board member of Powdec K.K. He is author of the books Innovation: Paradigm Disruption and Fields of Resonance; Recovering from Success: Innovation and Technology Management in Japan; Root for JR Fukuchiyama Train Incident: Rethinking Corporate Social Responsibility from Science; Fukushima Report: Root Cause for the Nuclear Accident; Five Physics Theories to Learn Before You Die; Science of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy; Why Innovation Ceased: Crisis of Scientific Japan; and The Graves of Physics: Seeking the Secret of Inspiration.