"Open Innovation"
Collaboration is the name of the game in the digital era; Japan lags
Pfizer did not invent the COVID vaccine that bears its name. Instead, it was developed for Pfizer by a Germany startup named BioNTech that was founded by immigrants from Turkey. This is not unusual at all; this kind of collaboration is typical of innovation in the digital era. Gmail was not invented by Google, not Alexa by Amazon. Most of Japan’s giants are still largely stuck in the “Not Invented Here” mindset when the leading edge of innovation was gigantic, cash-rich, vertically integrated companies doing everything themselves, ”from soup to nuts.”
Some are trying to change, with varying degrees of success.
This piece analyzes both the problem and the efforts to deal with it.
