• Faster priority rules in patent application.
• Faster rights acquisition through an accelerated examination.
• Open resources to academia (deposit to non-profit organizations).
• Development of new basic and applied technologies using funds obtained from a
matching system.
• Licensing strategy by industry with the founding venture as a business base.
• Strategy for intellectual property, including publicity for universities that disseminate research results and cross-licensing with competing patents, and so on.
The government, although limited, has spent much effort and time on this issue in
recent years. In view of this situation, since 2012, the Japan Science and Technology
Agency (JST) has built a new platform and initiated the matching structure (JST
(2012): www.jst.go.jp/tt/EN/2012.03). However, because the root of the problem
lies in the outlook on higher education in Japan itself, the relationship is complicated,
and space limitations preclude a lengthy discussion. One point that needs to be
clarified is that in Japan, research administration is under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and industrial
development is under the control of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
Therefore, many barriers are present, including budget issues and patent issues. The
TR strategy is not limited to the government’s TR strategy. After the establishment
of a higher education institution, a graduate school research system, and a flexible
pipeline with industry, an R&D pipeline was formed, and revenue from licensing out
can be generated. Furthermore, continuing to invest to ensure the stability of
specialists and infrastructure development will be possible. For that purpose, student
education is important from the viewpoint of securing promising personnel in the
future, and the development of a curriculum at the graduate school level is considered effective.
The establishment of a full-scale bridging research system in Japan began in 2005
with the promotion of molecularly targeted drug development for cancer treatment.
In 2006, the Basic Act on Cancer Control was enacted, which included the promotion of cancer research. Because about 30% of deaths are due to cancer, and about
50% of people currently suffer from various forms of cancer, this research project
was an urgent issue. The government has been increasing the budget for cancer
research every year (Fig. 3).
In the United States, on the other hand, the Clinical & Translational Science
Awards (CTSA) were launched in 2006 to promote TR for various diseases. In
particular, the human genome project, which was completed in 2003 when the
genome sequence was revealed, was expected to promote TR for cancer. The cancer
genome project, “The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)”, was started in 2006 to
comprehensively identify genetic mutations that selectively occur in cancer, with a
budget of nearly 40 billion yen. In 2014, a large-scale brain project (BRAIN
Initiative) was started, with a total budget of about 200 billion yen. The recent
cancer genome project has become a major pillar of United States TR in the
oncology field to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical trials. Although
this is only a comparison between Japan and the United States, the research budget in
Japan is quite small because it is almost the same as the research input cost in the
Realities and Challenges of Bridging Research in Japan
149
• Faster rights acquisition through an accelerated examination.
• Open resources to academia (deposit to non-profit organizations).
• Development of new basic and applied technologies using funds obtained from a
matching system.
• Licensing strategy by industry with the founding venture as a business base.
• Strategy for intellectual property, including publicity for universities that disseminate research results and cross-licensing with competing patents, and so on.
The government, although limited, has spent much effort and time on this issue in
recent years. In view of this situation, since 2012, the Japan Science and Technology
Agency (JST) has built a new platform and initiated the matching structure (JST
(2012): www.jst.go.jp/tt/EN/2012.03). However, because the root of the problem
lies in the outlook on higher education in Japan itself, the relationship is complicated,
and space limitations preclude a lengthy discussion. One point that needs to be
clarified is that in Japan, research administration is under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, and industrial
development is under the control of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
Therefore, many barriers are present, including budget issues and patent issues. The
TR strategy is not limited to the government’s TR strategy. After the establishment
of a higher education institution, a graduate school research system, and a flexible
pipeline with industry, an R&D pipeline was formed, and revenue from licensing out
can be generated. Furthermore, continuing to invest to ensure the stability of
specialists and infrastructure development will be possible. For that purpose, student
education is important from the viewpoint of securing promising personnel in the
future, and the development of a curriculum at the graduate school level is considered effective.
The establishment of a full-scale bridging research system in Japan began in 2005
with the promotion of molecularly targeted drug development for cancer treatment.
In 2006, the Basic Act on Cancer Control was enacted, which included the promotion of cancer research. Because about 30% of deaths are due to cancer, and about
50% of people currently suffer from various forms of cancer, this research project
was an urgent issue. The government has been increasing the budget for cancer
research every year (Fig. 3).
In the United States, on the other hand, the Clinical & Translational Science
Awards (CTSA) were launched in 2006 to promote TR for various diseases. In
particular, the human genome project, which was completed in 2003 when the
genome sequence was revealed, was expected to promote TR for cancer. The cancer
genome project, “The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA)”, was started in 2006 to
comprehensively identify genetic mutations that selectively occur in cancer, with a
budget of nearly 40 billion yen. In 2014, a large-scale brain project (BRAIN
Initiative) was started, with a total budget of about 200 billion yen. The recent
cancer genome project has become a major pillar of United States TR in the
oncology field to bridge the gap between basic research and clinical trials. Although
this is only a comparison between Japan and the United States, the research budget in
Japan is quite small because it is almost the same as the research input cost in the
Realities and Challenges of Bridging Research in Japan
149