日本陷入創新泥潭

????日本企業的研發經費都沖到馬桶里去了嗎？日本領先的高科技衛浴設備制造商東陶集團（TOTO）推出的一些創新產品表明，情況似乎確實如此。該公司推出了一款新型馬桶，它居然能以160公里的時速射出一個足球。這個古怪而又了不起的科技產物充分顯示了日本馳名已久的獨創精神。這個過分夸張的精巧裝置同時也表明，日本企業所花的大量研發經費到底在哪兒出了岔子。

????日本的一些企業老是搞這么多似乎雞毛蒜皮、沒有前途的小發明，這早就讓東京的技術咨詢師林信行覺得惱火了。他說，要理解這類現象，就要了解日本人的思維定勢和教育體系。他的觀點是：“日本人容易把手段當成目的。在日本的學校里，記住入學考試中那些難題的題型，要比探究事物的本質重要得多?！?/p>

????另外一些人則認為，對一個制造型經濟來說，這種一門心思是有效的，但它卻讓日本企業走向數字經濟的轉型之路變得異常艱難。笠原吉川是東京大學的（Tokyo's University）一名研究員，他已為韓國的電子巨頭三星公司（Samsung）效力了10年之久。在他看來，日本的這些技術型公司，例如擁有巨大研發中心的電訊巨頭Docomo公司之所以無法影響市場，就是因為他們對全新的市場不夠了解，或者不愿做出改變來適應它。他說：“日本也許擁有很優秀的技術創新，但對企業來說，這已不再是一種競爭優勢。因為日本的設計太貴，還缺乏蘋果（Apple）和三星那樣的市場洞察力?！彼囊馑?，換言之就是這些日本企業沒有提供消費者想要的產品。

????隨著日本經濟陷入更深層次的衰退，日本幾大消費電子巨頭令人震驚的慘淡銷售數字更證明了這一點——盡管日本每年的專利申請數量在全球僅次于美國和中國。實際上，據世界知識產權組織（World Intellectual Property Organization）的最新數據稱，2010年日本的專利申請量為344,598件，僅次于美國的500萬件，占世界專利申請總量大約18%。

????批評人士稱，這個輝煌數字掩蓋了一個事實，即大量專利常常是挪用、或者模仿美國原型，做一些小改進而已。勞埃德解釋說：“研究人員都有專利配額，哪怕是一點小改進，他們也被鼓勵拿去申報專利。實際上，這被看成是一種練習，而不是研發那些往往風險和投入都同樣巨大的突破性技術?！彼a充說，對日本人來說，從其他國家拿來最好的技術并在本國應用是最高效的做法?！熬瓦@方面來看，日本的技術研發并不生產初級產品，而是生產有用的產品?！?/p>

????與此同時，日本的研發產出正在下降。從地域來看，北美企業的研發支出增長率為9.7%，略高于全球平均值9.6%，而日本企業的增長僅為5.4%。實際上，日本企業可能對長期規劃和巨額研發投入這種模式喪失了信心，過去正是這種模式能收回那些失敗產品，推出轟動一時的新品。過去十年來，日本的消費電子業口口聲聲要實施變革，甚至強有力的官方輿論也努力推動它們進行改革，但結果卻徒勞無功。

????Is Japan's research and development spending going down the toilet? Some of the innovation, for example, at the country's leading high-tech?lavatory maker Toto, suggests perhaps so. The company has developed a new washroom model that is inexplicably capable of?shooting a soccer ball at 160 kilometers-per-hour. This bizarre and wonderful piece of technology showcases the ingenuity Japan is famous for. The overly ornate contraption could also symbolize where much of research and development spending by Japanese companies has gone wrong.

????That some in Japan pursue so many seemingly trivial, unwarranted inventions has long vexed Tokyo-based technology consultant Nobuyuki Hayashi. His explanation, he says, is to understand the Japanese mind-set and educational system. "[The] Japanese tend to mistake the means for the end. At Japanese schools it's more important to memorize the patter of tricky questions presented at the entrance exam than to study the real nature of things," he argues.

????This type of focus, others agree, was useful for a manufacturing economy but makes the transformation into a digital economy?difficult for Japan Inc. Tech companies, such as Docomo with its vast R&D centers, are failing to make an impact because they don't understand or are not willing to change to suit the new market says researcher at Tokyo's University, Ryozo Yoshikawa who spent 10 years working for Samsung, the Korean giant. "Japan may have superior technological innovation, but this is no longer a competitive advantage for businesses because Japanese designs are too expensive and lack the savvy that the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Samsung have." In other words, he says they are not offering what the consumers want.

????As Japan slides deeper into recession, the proof is in the appalling sales figures of consumer electronics makers -- despite the fact that Japan is third after the US and China for the number of patents filed each year. In fact, Japan put in for 344,598 patents in 2010 according to the latest figures from World Intellectual Property Organization. That's just behind the USA's half-million applications and nearly 18% of the world total.

????Critics say that this impressive figure masks the fact that many patents are focused on small incremental improvements often using and imitating an American model. "Researchers are set patent quotas and are encouraged to file on any minor improvement," explains Lloyd. "Indeed, it's considered a learning exercise, and rather than creating breakthrough technologies which typically entail high risk and expense." He adds that it is highly efficient for Japan to get the best technologies from other countries and apply them at home. "In this respect Japan's tech R&D doesn't produce raw products, but it does produce useful outputs."

????Meanwhile, R&D output is falling in Japan. Regionally, companies based in North America grew their R&D spending by 9.7% -- slightly above the global average of 9.6% -- while Japanese firms grew theirs at 5.4%. Indeed, Japanese companies may be losing faith in the long term-planing and heavy R&D spending model that was able to absorb the misses as well as generate the hits in the past. Over the last 10 years Japan's consumer electronics industry promised reform and even the country's powerful mandarins tried to push them to evolve to no avail.