IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/kob/dpaper/dp2021-02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Trends in the Number of Patent Applications and Changes in the Curriculum Guidelines in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Kazuo Nishimura

    (Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University and Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI), JAPAN)

  • Dai Miyamoto

    (Graduate School of Economics, Doshisha University, JAPAN)

  • Tadashi Yagi

    (Graduate School of Economics, Doshisha University, JAPAN)

Abstract

The numbers of published scientific papers and patent applications are indicators of a country's research and development (R&D) capabilities. Since the 2010s, these indicators have declined in Japan. One important factor for this decline is the changes in science and mathematics education provided at schools because education in school can greatly impact the quality of future researchers in science. To examine the impact of the number of class hours in science and mathematics that researchers received in school over the past 50 years, this study analyzed data from two surveys conducted in 2016 and 2020. The results show that there is a decline in the number of patents for the younger generation that cannot be explained by age differences, and it is highly correlated with a decline in the total number of hours of science and math in junior high school. Therefore, a country's educational policies should be implemented only after validating their effects from a long-term perspective because such policies may have unintended negative impacts on the country's economic growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Kazuo Nishimura & Dai Miyamoto & Tadashi Yagi, 2021. "Trends in the Number of Patent Applications and Changes in the Curriculum Guidelines in Japan," Discussion Paper Series DP2021-02, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University.
    • Handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2021-02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieb.kobe-u.ac.jp/academic/ra/dp/English/DP2021-02.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2021
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schettino, Francesco & Sterlacchini, Alessandro & Venturini, Francesco, 2013. "Inventive productivity and patent quality: Evidence from Italian inventors," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1043-1056.
    2. de Rassenfosse, Gaetan & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno, 2009. "A policy insight into the R&D-patent relationship," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 779-792, June.
    3. Akhmat, Ghulam & Zaman, Khalid & Shukui, Tan & Javed, Yasir & Khan, Muhammad Mushtaq, 2014. "Relationship between educational indicators and research outcomes in a panel of top twenty nations: Windows of opportunity," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 349-361.
    4. Furman, Jeffrey L. & Porter, Michael E. & Stern, Scott, 2002. "The determinants of national innovative capacity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 899-933, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kazuo Nishimura & Dai Miyamoto & Tadashi Yagi, 2022. "Japan’s R&D capabilities have been decimated by reduced class hours for science and math subjects," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kazuo Nishimura & Dai Miyamoto & Tadashi Yagi, 2022. "Japan’s R&D capabilities have been decimated by reduced class hours for science and math subjects," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Danguy, Jérôme & de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno, 2010. "The R&D-patent relationship: An industry perspective," EIB Papers 7/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    3. Marina Van Geenhuizen & Pieter Stek, 2015. "Mapping innovation in the global photovoltaic industry: a bibliometric approach to cluster identification and analysis," ERSA conference papers ersa15p697, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Jun, Bogang, 2013. "The Trade-off between Fertility and Education: Evidence from the Korean Development Path," MPRA Paper 43971, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Dernis, Hélène & Guellec, Dominique & Picci, Lucio & van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, Bruno, 2013. "The worldwide count of priority patents: A new indicator of inventive activity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 720-737.
    6. Czarnitzki, Dirk, 2009. "The virtue of industry-science collaborations," EIB Papers 5/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    7. van Ark, Bart & Hao, Janet X. & Corrado, Carol & Hulten, Charles, 2009. "Measuring intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth in Europe," EIB Papers 3/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    8. Lööf, Hans & Savin, Maxim, 2012. "Cross-country difference in R&D productivity Comparison of 11 European economies," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 294, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies, revised 13 Mar 2013.
    9. Jérôme Danguy & Gaetan de Rassenfosse & Bruno van Pottelsberghe de la Potterie, 2014. "On the origins of the worldwide surge in patenting: an industry perspective on the R&D–patent relationship," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(2), pages 535-572.
    10. de Rassenfosse, Gaétan & Schoen, Anja & Wastyn, Annelies, 2014. "Selection bias in innovation studies: A simple test," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 287-299.
    11. Ientile, Damien & Mairesse, Jacques, 2009. "A policy to boost R&D: Does the R&D tax credit work?," EIB Papers 6/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    12. Uppenberg, Kristian, 2009. "Innovation and economic growth," EIB Papers 1/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    13. Mc Morrow, Kieran & Röger, Werner, 2009. "R&D capital and economic growth: The empirical evidence," EIB Papers 4/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    14. Stek, Pieter E. & van Geenhuizen, Marina S., 2016. "The influence of international research interaction on national innovation performance: A bibliometric approach," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 61-70.
    15. Helmers, Christian & Schulte, Christian & Strauss, Hubert, 2009. "Business R&D expenditure and capital in Europe," EIB Papers 2/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    16. Kumar, Sanjesh & Singh, Baljeet, 2019. "Barriers to the international diffusion of technological innovations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 74-86.
    17. Aiello, Francesco & Albanese, Giuseppe & Piselli, Paolo, 2019. "Good value for public money? The case of R&D policy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1076.
    18. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2020. "Absorptive capacity, socially enabling mechanisms, and the role of learning from trial and error experiments: A tribute to Dan Levinthal’s contribution to international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(9), pages 1568-1579, December.
    19. Anil K. Gupta & Paul E. Tesluk & M. Susan Taylor, 2007. "Innovation At and Across Multiple Levels of Analysis," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 18(6), pages 885-897, December.
    20. Hunt, Jennifer & Garant, Jean-Philippe & Herman, Hannah & Munroe, David J., 2012. "Why Don't Women Patent?," IZA Discussion Papers 6886, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Research and development capabilities; Number of patent applications; Science and mathematics education; Number of class hours;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kob:dpaper:dp2021-02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Office of Promoting Research Collaboration, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rikobjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.