University Startup or Technology Transfer ?
At the present time, university startups in Japan are not considered to be successful. Bygoing back to the early times of the computer age and comparing the differences between U.S. and Japan, the purpose of this paper is to understand the eco-system of Japanese university ventures as per the commercialization of new technologies.
The first successful university startup in theUnited States is the igital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1957. At the same time, the Electronics Test Laboratory (ETL) by initiative of the Ministry of nternational Trade and Industry (MITI) promoted the transfer of technology to large firms, which gave irth to commercial computers in Japan.
In those days, computers were considered potential weapons due to their military application. Japan was then one of the recently defeated powers of WWII. As a result, Japanese universities could not aggressively develop electric computers. Now, many university startups are founded by university researchers in the U.S., but, university researchers in Japan
want to promote the transfer of technology to large firms as per the commercialization of new technologies.