The Kyoto Research Park and Innovation in Japanese Cities

Abstract

Kyoto is well known as a historical city in Japan long associated with culture, shrines, temples, and craft industries, and more recently with high technology and innovation. It is also the only Japanese city to boast a privately operated research park in its central district. Thanks to local businesses initiatives, the Kyoto Research Park (KRP) is home to a new generation of high-tech ventures, with nearly half of its 240 tenant companies coming from the new media and information technology sectors. In this article, I trace the history of the KRP and set it against recent programs of the national government to enhance Japan's regional and local innovation systems. The distinctive entrepreneurial milieu in Kyoto is also assessed, together with the programs of the Kyoto city government, local universities, and high-tech enterprises. Information was collected through field research conducted in 2005. The effectiveness of the Kyoto Research Park is judged through it ability to form linkages with sources of innovation at the local, national, and international levels, hence the results illustrate the utility of the "local buzz/global pipeline" approach to knowledge creation and innovation within regional clusters. However, in the case of the KRP, this approach has to be placed within broader policy changes in Japan, leading to new approaches to local economic development.

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