A Survey of High-Technology Transfer Practices in Japan and in the United States

The high-technology transfer practices of researchers in Japan and the United States differ. The results of a survey show the principal ways in which industrial researchers in Japan and in the United States use certain new technologies resulting from university research. The survey was conducted in Japan and the United States between October 1986 and December 1987. Personal communication and technical collaboration are key factors in the rapid diffusion of research results in both countries. In Japan, government agencies and professional societies take a much more active role in organizing and energizing the civilian technology transfer process than do counterpart organizations in the United States.