A comparison of Japanese and US high-technology transfer practices

Some empirical results and observations are presented which describe the principal ways in which a sample of industrial researchers in Japan and in the US utilize certain technologies resulting from university research. The findings are from a survey conducted in Japan and the US between October 1986 and December 1987. These results indicate that personal communications and technical collaboration are the key factors in the rapid diffusion of research results in both countries, and that in Japan, government agencies and professional societies take a much more active role in organizing and energizing the civilian technology-transfer process than do counterpart organizations in the US.>