The Sun Rises Again? Regaining Industrial Competitiveness of Japan in Science Based Economy Era

Following the end of World War II, Japan achieved remarkable economic growth, rising to be on par with the levels of the United States and Europe. With particular strength in manufacturing, Japan attracted much attention from around the world for its technological capabilities and ability to produce high quality products. Can Japan restore its glories such as those that garnered global attention in the 1980s? In 2006, Bill Emmott, a former editor of The Economist, published "Hi wa Mata Noboru (The Sun Also Rises)", which predicts that someday Japan will restore its competitiveness by increasing productivity through economic structural reforms.

However, so far, we do not see the clear picture of The Sun’s rising again. This talk is based on Motohashi’s new book, “Hi ha Mata Takaku (The Sun Rises Again)” from Nikkei, for explaining the way Japan should proceed to regain its industrial competitiveness. He has analyzed the shift of sources of industrial competitiveness, taking into account science revolutions (IT, life science etc.) and growing presence of emerging economies such as China and India, and explained new model of innovation lead growth by the concept of “science based economy”. His talk also touches on the subject of differences of economic institutions among nations, and proposes new model of Japanese innovation system in 21st century with the importance of labor market liberalization to proceed structural reforms to adjust new environment. Please refer to the following link for more detail description of the book. http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/columns/a01_0391.html

Kazuyuki Motohashi joins the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center (Shorenstein APARC) during the period of September 2014 to March 2015 as Sasakawa Peace Fellow, from the University of Tokyo where he serves as a professor at the Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering. Until this year, he had taken various positions at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Japanese Government, economist at OECD and associate professor at Hitotsubashi University.

His research interest covers a broad range of issues in economic and statistical analysis of innovation, including economic impacts of information technology, international comparison of productivity, national innovation system focusing on science and industry linkages and SME innovation and entrepreneurship policy. He has published several papers and books on above issues, including Productivity in Asia: Economic Growth and Competitiveness (2007). At Shorenstein APARC, he conducts research project, “New Channles: Reinventing US-Japan Relationship”, particularly focusing on innovation in silicon valley and its linkage with Japanese innovation system.

Mr. Motohashi was awarded Master of Engineering from University of Tokyo, MBA from Cornell University and Ph.D. in business and commerce from Keio University.