Introduction

From the late 1970s the undertaking of basic or generic research in Japan received high priority. In the area of electronic devices the decision was made to sponsor research in several areas which were highly uncertain, indeed, according to the Director of a VLSI laboratory in one of the large Japanese industrial electronics companies, even academic and speculative. Under the Future Electronic Devices (FED) Project three kinds of devices were chosen for development, namely superlattices, three-dimensional devices and fortified devices for extreme conditions. In 1986 biochips were added to the FED Project.

Background to the FED Project

The background to FED has been discussed by Dore (1983). The following is a summary of the main points of interest here.

FED formed part of a larger programme which, together with new materials and biotechnology, aimed at the development of technologies for the future. The programme was called the Next Generation Base Technologies Development Programme, or Jisedai.

The Jisedai Programme emerged from MITI's increasing commitment from the late 1970s to the development of new industrial technologies for the future. In 1977 an ad hoc advisory council was established, called the Working Party for the Formulation of a Long-Term Plan for the Development of Industrial Technology, which reported to the Director-General of MITI's Agency for Industrial Science and Technology.