Japan and Silicon Valley: Origins, Trajectories, and Implications from SPICE on Vimeo.
Silicon Valley and Japan have both been important areas of innovation, and have interesting histories that have altered the course of the world; however, they have approached innovation very differently. Japan and Silicon Valley up to this point have had a history of competition that has driven a lot of the innovation in each region. Silicon Valley has emerged as the world’s center of innovation in areas related to information technology (IT) in the last two decades. On the other hand, where Japan was once positioned to become the next software superpower following up on its success in manufacturing, Japan’s IT industry has struggled to remain competitive.
In this video lecture, Kenji Kushida, a Japan Program Research Scholar at the Walter Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, discusses how Japan and Silicon Valley have moved away from a model of competition, towards collaboration and cooperation through open innovation.
In the accompanying discussion guide, students will gain a broad understanding of the relationship between Silicon Valley and Japan, historically and presently, and the innovation that has resulted.