Innovation and structural reforms are in the focus of today’s public discussion, in Japan as well as in Germany. However, a high potential of innovation is mostly associated with U.S. corporations. Germany and Japan are thought to be lacking behind. Intense reforms in both countries are therefore currently directed to rectify the weaknesses in the development of new industries. One industry, where both countries have been quite unsuccessful, is the software sector, which is dominated by U.S. American firms. Hence this sector has been chosen as benchmark for a conference on German and Japanese innovation system.
The workshop will deal with the German and Japanese innovation system in comparison and acknowledges that reforms are necessary, but chooses another approach. The workshop aims at understanding why Japanese and German firms became successful in subsectors of the software industry, namely game software and customized business software. The planned conference will cover three issues:
· National innovation systems under the pressure of globalisation
· The Japanese game software and the German business software sector
· Institutional settings in the innovation process
Language of the workshop will be English.