In Japan, the Delphi method has been used since 1971 to predict possible technological developments. The same approach was used in Germany for the first time in 1992. This book analyses and compares the results from studies carried out in both countries. This comparison allows conclusions to be drawn as to the relevance of certain fields of technology or disciplines - not only for public policy but also for companies. Possible realization goals, constraints on their achievement, the current R&D level of the two nations and the necessity of international co-operation all give hints on tomorrow's technology and its economic and societal impacts.

Long-awaited reforms in technology policy and corporate strategy are now taking place in Japan. This book asks whether it is the programme of reform or the will and ability to implement reforms which is new.

In Japan, the Delphi method has been used since 1971 to predict possible technological developments. The same approach was used in Germany for the first time in 1992. This book analyses and compares the results from studies carried out in both countries. This comparison allows conclusions to be drawn as to the relevance of certain fields of technology or disciplines - not only for public policy but also for companies. Possible realization goals, constraints on their achievement, the current R&D level of the two nations and the necessity of international co-operation all give hints on tomorrow's technology and its economic and societal impacts.

Technology roadmapping is a significant method to help companies gain orientation concerning future challenges. This work contains a description of technology roadmapping in four major parts, providing expert knowledge on framing/embedding of technology roadmapping, processes of technology roadmapping, implementing technology roadmapping and linking technology roadmapping to other instruments of strategic planning. The book provides a comprehensive survey of technology roadmapping since it contains papers by leading European, American and Asian experts, provides orientation regarding different methods of technology roadmapping and their interconnections, supplies readers with a compilation of the most important submethods, and embeds and links technology roadmapping in the framework of management research. This book aims at becoming the leading compendium on technology roadmapping.

Institutional and technological change is a highly topical subject. At the theoretical level, there is much debate in the field of institutional economics about the role of technological change in endogenous growth theory. At a practical policy level, arguments rage about how Japan and the Japanese economy should plan for the future. In this book, leading economists and economic historians of Japan examine a range of key issues concerning institutional and technological change in Japan, rigorously using discipline-based tools of analysis, and drawing important conclusions as to how the process of change in these areas actually works. In applying these ideas to Japan, the writers in this volume are focusing on an issue which is currently being much debated in the country itself, and are helping our understanding of the world’s second-largest economy.