The Contemporary Japan Group at the Institute of Social Science (ISS, a.k.a. Shaken), University of Tokyo, welcomes you to a lecture by Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Associate Professor, DePaul
University:

The Networked Nation:
Identifying Emerging Knowledge and Entrepreneurial Hubs in Asia (and Japan’s knowledge and network stickiness problem)

Thursday, Thursday, June 28 from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Akamon Sōgō Kenkyūtō Room 549, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus, University of Tokyo: http://web.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cjg/contact/

Abstract:
Japan has a “stickiness” problem. This talk presents a conceptual framework of “sticky” v. ”fluid” knowledge and network flows that feed into a nation’s innovation to entrepreneurship pipeline (the set of institutions and practices that produce commercialized technologies in new products and firms). Japan is compared against a number of world economies in terms of strengths and weaknesses in codified and tacit knowledge and closed and open network institutions and practices.

The conceptual framework, empirical data and analysis of biomedical innovation and entrepreneurship contribute to debates in national innovation systems, entrepreneurial ecosystem development, national policy and firm level strategy.

This study aims to provide a global level analysis of the innovation to entrepreneurship pipeline, identifying emerging concentrations of scientific citation, patenting and firm creation – paying close attention to Japan’s competitive position and future prospects. In frontier technology sectors such as biomedicine, proxy measures can help identify emerging trends in the innovation to entrepreneurship pipeline:
emerging knowledge hubs (scientific citations), potential new product developments (core patents) and entrepreneurial activity (firm-level data). Utilizing proprietary datasets (citation, patent and firm-level), including Dunn and Bradstreet and Teikoku Databank, as well as open-access data sets from WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization), OECD and SCOPUS/Web of Science data, a unique NAICS “Plus”
delineated data set was created. This provides the opportunity to analyze aggregate global (and micro) level data – utilizing socio-spatial methodologies – to identity concentrations of innovation and firm-level activity. The result is a time series mapping of emerging hubs of knowledge and firm creation in biomedical sectors including biopharmaceutical and medical device technologies. Preliminary findings indicate a gradual shift to Asian economies of a number of biotech innovation and new business creation activities. Data visualization showing trends at the global level (top ten bio economies 2000-2010) is complemented with a discussion of specific national level policies in countries exhibiting significant growth, including China, India and Singapore.

While Japan excels in codified “sticky” assets and inter-firm networks, greater fluidity in knowledge and network flows in other Asian countries has placed Japan at a competitive disadvantage – as demonstrated by policy and practice in knowledge and network assets such as intellectual and human capital. The talk concludes with implications for immigration, investment, education and inter-firm networks in Japan.

Keywords: patents, intellectual property, biotechnology, medical devices, biopharmaceutical, new business creation, entrepreneurship, economic policy, China, India, Singapore, United States, clusters, national innovation systems

This is a work-in-progress and critical feedback is most welcome!

Biography:
Kathryn Ibata-Arens, Ph.D., Northwestern University, is an associate professor in the department of political science at DePaul University in Chicago. Dr.
Ibata-Arens specializes in international and comparative political economy, entrepreneurship policy, high technology policy and Japanese political economy.
Dr. Ibata-Arens’ current book manuscript examines global and national level trends in biomedical entrepreneurship and competition, utilizing social network analysis and GIS methodologies. Current projects include research on inward foreign direct investment in Asia, foreign entrepreneurs as “change agents” in Japan and new business incubation strategy.
Her dissertation research was conducted at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of Tokyo as a Fulbright Doctoral Fellow.
Dr. Ibata-Arens was a JSPS post-doctoral fellow
(2002-2003) at the Center for Advanced Economic Engineering (AEE), University of Tokyo and was a fellow in the Alfred P. Sloan/Social Science Research Council Program on the Corporation as a Social Institution (2002). In 2005 and 2006 she was a Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership Abe Research Fellow in the Faculty of Commerce, Doshisha University, Kyoto. In 2008, Dr. Ibata-Arens was a Japan Policy Fellow, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington, D.C. and received a Sloan Foundation Industry Studies Grant for her work on national entrepreneurship and innovation policy. Dr.
Ibata-Arens’ book Innovation and Entrepreneurship in
Japan: Politics, Organizations and High Technology Firms Cambridge University Press, 2005 analyzes high technology firms and regional economies in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. Other works, on enterprise embeddedness and entrepreneurial business networks, appear in journals including Enterprise and Society and Journal of Asian Business and Management. In 2009-2010 Dr. Ibata-Arens was a Fulbright New Century Scholar at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, serving as project team leader for a fourteen-country research collaboration. She was a Mike Mansfield Foundation and Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellow (2010-2011), visiting fellow at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Management and recently served as a U.S. Japan Council / Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Japanese American Leadership Delegate (JALD).

In 2012 Ibata-Arens was appointed to the METI-US State Department Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council (IEC). She is also a visiting researcher at the Research Center for Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI,
Tokyo) and Ritsumeikan University Research Center for Innovation Management (Kyoto) (2011-2013).
kibataar[at]depaul.edu

CJG:
The ISS Contemporary Japan Group provides English-speaking residents of the Tokyo area with an opportunity to hear cutting-edge research in social science and related policy issues, as well as a venue for researchers and professionals in or visiting Tokyo to present and receive knowledgeable feedback on their latest research projects. Admission is free and advance registration is not required. Everyone is welcome.

For more information, please visit our website:
http://web.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/cjg/
or contact
Gregory W. NOBLE (noble[at]iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp) ISHIDA Hiroshi (ishida[at]iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp)