Q33: Nowadays,we often see the term"venture business"in the newspapers,but are universities taking steps to foster the human resources needed to start up these new businesses?
A:In order to develop new businesses such asventure businesses,it is important to developcreative human resources with an entrepre-neurial spirit who have advanced tech-nological knowledge and the ability to com-mercialize it.To this end,the followingmeasures are being promoted at universities.
Emphasis on General Education and Intro-duction of Specialized Subjects
In order to contribute to the development of creative and independent human resourees,uni-versities are focusing on general education at undergraduate level in terms of cultivating problem-solving ability and taking measures to innovate and improve teaching methods and curriculums.Further,many universities and graduate schools are introducing subjects related to venture business with a wide range of content,for example Venture Business Theory,and some universities have set up specialized courses.
The Establishment of Affiliate Graduate
Schools An affiliate graduate school is a graduate school that provides graduate education using the fa-cilities,equipment and human resources of non-academic national examination research insti-tutes as well as private-sector and other research institutes.As of FY1999;affiliate graduate schools have been established at the graduate schools of43universities(33national,three public and seven private).
The Establishment of Venture BusinessLaboratories
The purpose of venture business laboratories is to promote creative research and development to form the basis for venture businesses to create new industry and to foster the creative human resources with the necessary skills for advanced specialist work.Specifically,the laboratories conduct research and development projects into basic technologies in areas such as semicon-ductors,multimedia and computers that will support Japan's future industry.As of FY1998,venture business laboratories had been estab-lished in the graduate schools of27national science and engineering universities.
The Establishment of Science Frontier andHi-tech Research Centers
MESSC designates research organizations at private universities with outstanding research track records and an expectation of future re-search development as Science Frontier Re-search Promotion Centers.There are also uni-versities with centers for cooperative research which conduct cooperative research with inter-nal and external research organizations.In addition,some universities are also desig-nated as Hi-tech Research Centers and receive subsidies for the research facilities,equipment and apparatus needed to promote cutting-edge research and development projects.
