This book is intended to make a contribution in two broad areas. The first is a detailed study of the major Japanese cooperative research projects in the area of computing, related electronic devices and optoelectronics. These include the VLSI Research Project, 1976–80; the Optical Measurement and Control System Project, 1979–85; the High Speed Computing System for Scientific and Technological Uses Project (The Supercomputer Project), 1981–89; the Future Electronic Devices Project, 1981–90; and the Fifth Generation Computer Project, 1982–91. It is believed that the present study is the most detailed analysis of these projects available.

The second area to which this book contributes, relates to the conceptualization of the process of technical change and its relationship to economic change. Based on the analyses of the above projects and on the historical chapter which reconstructs the policy alternatives facing the Japanese companies and government in the computing and related electronic devices industry in the postwar period, the final chapter of this book explores some of the key analytical concepts that are necessary to analyse the process of technical change in what is referred to as the Japanese Technology-Creating System.

The book throws light on a number of issues which have emerged in academic and policy-oriented analyses and debates. To begin with, the complexities surrounding the process of research cooperation between competing firms are examined in detail. It is widely believed in many Western circles that in Japan there is a substantially higher propensity for competing companies to cooperate in research.