本研究では、CEOの知財活動に関する職務経験が、特許戦略行動にどのような影響を及ぼすのかを検証することを1つの目的としていた。本年度の研究計画としては、過去の研究にもとづいて仮説を構築し、そして構築された仮説を昨年度に整備したデータを利用して予備的な実証分析を行うことであった。
まず、本研究では、アッパーエシュロン理論を使って、知財活動に関する職務経験がCEOの行動にどのように影響し、結果として、どのような影響が期待されるのかを仮説にまとめた。アッパーエシュロン理論とは、その企業の経営トップや経営陣の個性・特性・職務経験などが企業の行動・パフォーマンスに大きく影響を及ぼすといった理論である。
次に、本研究では、予備的な分析を行った。予備的な分析によれば、知財活動に関する職務経験があるCEOに交代すると、そうでないCEOに交代した場合と比較して、知財マネジメントは交代後数年間大きく変動することがわかっている。そして、どちらかというと、知財経験といった職務経験がCEOにあると、意外なことに知財マネジメントが消極的であることが明らかとなった。
企業の知財部は特許出願を1つの目標にしているため、知財部任せだと過大な特許出願になりがちである。しかし、本研究の予備的な分析結果は、CEOの知財活動の職務経験によって、知財部による過大な特許出願に歯止めをかけられることを示唆する。そして、ヒトの過去の経験によって、ヒトの行動が変化することも示唆された。

First, our study reveals that CEO succession is likely to initiate strategic change whereas social ties between prior CEO and new CEO is unlikely to initiate strategic change. Second, patent strategy after CEO succession is more likely to be fluctuated over years if new CEO who has IP career in the past was succeeded than new CEO without IP career in the past. Third, executives including new CEOs who have IP career in the past is likely to adopt differentiated IP strategy from average strategy within the same industry. Lastly, executive including new CEOs who are able to exclusively concentrate on IP duty is likely to adopt differentiated IP strategy from average strategy within the same industry.

In this study, we empirically examine the impact of patenting in SMEs on financing and performance. We find that patenting by SMEs increase their accessibility to venture capital funding relative to firms that do not, and also improve firm performance. The results also show that the expansion of the scope of software patents and the patent fee reduction schemes also play a significant contribution to the performance of SMEs in Japan.

Using individuals’ life-cycle invention data, we investigate how graduate education affects inventive performance and inventors’ ability to absorb and combine diverse knowledge sources. We use the status of college labor markets as instrumental variables to control for the endogeneity of educational choice, our primary instrumental variable being the difference between the unemployment rate and its natural rate by academic field. We find that graduate education, induced by the instrumental variables, significantly enhances inventive performance (10-14%) and the scope of exploited knowledge, exceeding the levels implied by OLS. Graduate education can have a significant causal effect on inventive capability and performance

With the introduction of the pre-grant publication system in Japan and US as natural experiments, this research project has found that the pre-grant publication not only increased the speed of knowledge diffusion from the invention, but also enhanced the first mover advantage of the disclosed invention on average. Also, we analyzed the effect of the introduction of the mandatory disclosure of prior arts in Japan in 2002, and found that the quality of disclosure improved, with the effect of shortening the examination period, and that the predictive power of inventor citations with respect to the patent value also increased. Consistent with these results, we also found that the extent to which the patent examination reduces the scope of the patent is greater as the applicant's disclosure quality is lower. In addition, we obtained new findings on the inventor's ability to absorb knowledge, the information constraint on the Patent Office, and the knowledge flow effect of grace period

This study examines the determinants of post-entry performance of high-tech start-ups in Japan to identify the process from entrepreneurship to innovation. In this study, we newly construct a data set of high-tech start-ups by matching some data sources. Using this data set, we investigate how entrepreneurs’ human capital, including technological ability, and governance at founding affect the post-entry performance of firms. Moreover, we provide some evidence on what factors affect the growth of high-tech start-ups, which will lead to policies to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in high-tech start-ups.

In this paper, I first examine the effect of revenue-based payment for employee inventors on inventive productivity using firm level micro data. Second, I investigate the relationship between education level and productivity among inventors. Lastly, I study how joint researches between large firm, SMEs and universities are conducted and who acquire the right of research outputs through joint research in fuel cell area.

Collaborating with world-wide industrial, governmental and academic organizations, the research conducted the unique questionnaire surveys of R&D projects and consortia in science-based industries together with large number of the related intensive and cross-bordering fieldworks about them, and clarified the essential characteristics and/or weakness of innovation processes of those industries in Japan. It also provided the novel theoretical and empirical frameworks/methodologies for investigating the relevant polices and strategies to enhance the performance of those R&D activities

This research is implemented to clarify the basic conditions for the construction of world's top class research centers, which is targeted by 3rd science and technology basic plan in Japan. By using the case analyses for some excellent research centers in Europe and North America, this research produced the results as follows. The promotion program for construction of research center must to involve the variety correspond to the differences in the construction factors of top class research center by research fields. A strategy aiming to lead the new research field is continually necessary to sustain the top class position for the research centers.

本研究では、日本企業が導入した発明報奨制度が企業の研究開発の生産性の向上に結びついているかどうかを実証的に分析した。分析結果では、特許の出願・登録時の報奨制度の導入は、企業の特許件数の増加に結びついているが、被引用回数で測った特許1件あたりの質が低下することが示された。質の低下は、導入以前には特許化されなかった質の低い発明が特許化されるようになったことが主な原因と考えられる。他方で、売上高や利益、ライセンスロイヤリティ等の特許の実績に応じて支払う実績報奨制度の導入は、特許出願・登録件数だけでなく、特許の質の向上に結びついていないことが明らかとなった。以上の結果は、発明報奨制度の導入が十分に企業の発明能力の向上に結びついていないことを強く示唆していると言える。

2000年に導入された中小企業に対する特許の審査請求手数料・特許料の減免制度は、中小企業におけるイノベーションによる収益性を高め、彼らの研究開発意欲を引き出す重要な政策手段である。しかし、実際にこれらの制度がどの程度中小企業の企業行動に影響を与えているのかは十分に明らかになっていない。そこで本研究では、特許の減免制度の利用が企業のイノベーション活動にどのような影響を与えるのかを分析した。現時点で得られている分析結果を述べると、制度利用によって、企業の特許登録率は上昇し、特許の存続期間も延長される一方で、特許の質の低下は見られないという結果を得ている。今後は本結果がどの程度頑健性のある結果と言えるのかを、厳密に検証する予定である。