(Cherry)blossoming R&D ? study tour in Japan

In the framework of the collaboration between IKU Innovation Research Centre and Ritsumeikan University, László Csonka PhD has been invited by Prof. Hiroshi Tanaka to Japan for two weeks. This visit provided great opportunity to study the R&D and innovation system of Japan and collect adaptable experiences for Hungary. Another important result of the stay were the lectures held by László Csonka, who gave talk at the Nippon, Rykkio and Hitotsubashi universities about the R&D and innovation networks in the Hungarian automotive industry.
The discussions with local experts and the lively conversations after the presentations highlighted similarities between the Japanese and Hungarian innovation systems out of which would be useful to learn.
In Hungary, just as in Europe much attention has been devoted to the role of SMEs in the internationalisation of R&D and innovation and its impact on economic growth. According to the generally accepted view the active participation of SMEs in internationalisation and R&D would bring many benefits for the whole economy. The IKU Innovation Research Centre recently conducted a research on this topic (see KKVENT) highlighting some of the main weaknesses of the Hungarian innovation system related to the modest internationalisation of SMEs even among the innovative firms. The importance of the internationalisation of SMEs is also recognized in Japan where a lot of technologically superior SME focusing on the domestic market. Although their capabilities would make it possible for them to expand on the international market, the domestic demand ? and strong network ties - suffices their ambition. The Japanese government realised that this situation cannot be maintained on the long run and even SMEs have to face their Asian competitors in foreign markets thus supporting their high growth potential.
It is not independent from the issues raised in the previous paragraph that in Japan emphasis is put on the education of entrepreneurial knowledge and on improving university-industry linkages. In this latter field the main problem is to get involved the SMEs, which is mainly done by incubators and other interactive tools. These are also useful tools to spread modern entrepreneurial attitude and provide SMEs with up-to-date knowledge. Large companies are traditionally important partners of the higher education institutions in Japan but it is more difficult to establish such linkages with SMEs. The government-financed system for enterprise development successfully integrates funds from the government, knowledge available at higher education institutions and demand from the business sphere with sectoral and regional aspects. In the near future more and more analyses and evaluations will be conducted to assess those reforms that have been launched in the higher education sector to provide impetus for more entrepreneurial activities and better interactions with the business sphere.
The automotive industry plays an important role in the economy of both Japan and Hungary although the industries are organised following totally different philosophies. It can be easily seen on the R&D and innovation networking which is important in both countries but from different reasons. While in Europe the growing role of suppliers in product development results in building up strong R&D and innovation capabilities at these firms in Japan suppliers are still assigned to execute precisely described orders by the major companies. In practice this means higher independence for suppliers in Europe who are capable of developing general platforms ready for sale to multiple buyers. They have the authority over the technical solutions until these perform the specifications requested by the large carmaker companies. In Japan, suppliers are deeply integrated into the vertical supply chains of multinational corporations and therefore they are specialized to certain technologies, solutions etc. that is difficult to utilize outside of this partnership. They are told what to develop and how to do it therefore they lack the ability of technology foresighting, independent or long term development. Of course many of them would like to change this situation and demand more independence but the growing complexity of the production process and the relative inexperience of Japanese organizations in that kind of collaboration results in problems like Toyota had to face recently. The change of an element in the system requires adaptation from the other parts, in this special case ? among others - quality management have to live up to this new challenge.
This study tour in Japan strengthened the idea that it is not only to learn from Japan but there are a lot of issues in R&D and innovation on which common efforts, collaborations would be desirable for both parties.