From knowledge dependence to knowledge creation: Industrial growth and the technological advance of the Japanese electronics industry

The thrust of the argument put forward in this paper is that the postwar technological advance of the Japanese electronics industry was in essence a product not a primary cause of industrial growth. We demonstrate that the industry's surge forward resulted from the interaction of a unique combination of political, economic and cultural forces. Business leaders took full advantage by investing on a massive scale in physical, organizational, human and technological resources. It was success in the marketplace and strong cash flows that allowed Japanese firms to import technology on a large scale, invest in scientists and engineers, and progressively develop world class technological capabilities. In establishing themselves as global players, Japanese electronics firms moved over the years from a position of knowledge dependence to one of knowledge creation. We explore how this transformation was achieved and how they learned to control and exploit knowledge creating systems and processes. In particular, we establish the multi-faceted context and complex set of relationships that have conditioned strategic decision making and the creation of technological capabilities

Towards a UK co-operative for the advancement of quantum technology

The meeting was the fourth in DSTL's series of community meetings and had a Systems Engineering theme – recognising the increasing importance of this topic for many in the Quantum Technology (QT) community. There is a growing recognition that, although there are significant research challenges associated with realising the commercial and societal benefits anticipated from quantum technologies, there are also other challenges which concern the physical, commercial, societal and regulatory environments into which these new technologies will be integrated. Similar difficulties have been faced and overcome by the information and communications industry. One of the striking characteristics of this sector over the past 20 years has been the speed at which advances in semiconductor technology have been exploited by industry. Each new generation of semiconductor devices has led to new system designs and to new user capabilities which represented a major advance upon the systems and capabilities that came before them. However, to achieve this required a large number of different components and tools to become available at the right time, and at an affordable price. The routine achievement of this is evidence of how companies and institutions within the sector have been able to communicate effectively and establish a high level of collaboration, whilst still maintaining intense competition at the product level. QT is very different to the semiconductor industry. While a number of target applications exist the discipline is very much in its infancy. At one end of the spectrum, there are some applications in communications and sensors that are relatively close to market, and, at the other end, there are some applications in computing and simulation that are still far from market. Many choices of enabling technologies and materials have yet to be fixed, and there is, as yet, very little first-hand experience of the problems that will arise when companies seek to establish repeatable manufacture of quantum components and systems. What can we learn from the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) that might benefit the Quantum Technology community? Generating an additional quantum roadmap would merely duplicate previous work – but establishing a small number of cross-community working groups might be a way to assist UK industry to gain a competitive edge in the application of quantum technologies, without duplicating the existing activities by other bodies such as InnovateUK, British Standards Institution (BSI), European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) etc. This document reports on discussions held at the meeting around this question and, leveraging this input, seeks to provide clear and appropriate recommendations to the UK QT community

Patent reform: a mixed blessing for the U.S. economy?

The 1980s represented a period of dramatic change in the design and enforcement of U.S. intellectual property law. Many of these changes were adopted in the hopes of stimulating private research and development and improving the technological competitiveness of American industries. This article examines the effects of an especially important aspect of these changes: many more inventions qualify for patent protection than before. While it seems logical that making patents easier to obtain will encourage more inventive activity, economic analysis reveals this is not always true, and it is less likely to be true in industries that innovate rapidly.Patents

Understanding new venture market application search processes: A propositional model.

Technology-based ventures are confronted with complex decisions on how to apply their technology platform in highly uncertain and ambiguous market environments. Based on four case studies, a dynamic decision model is developed in which we highlight the similarities between the search and learning processes in venture development contexts and in new product development contexts. This entrepreneurial search and learning process is understood as consisting of sequences of episodes – characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity - and scripts – i.e. approaches to market application search. The model implies that a venture's adaptability - i.e. its ability to move efficiently and effectively between these episodes and their related scripts - influences its survival.Case studies; Decision; Decisions; Learning; Market; Model; Processes; Product; Product development; Research; Sequences; Similarity; Studies; Technology; Uncertainty;