論文 / 著書情報
Article / Book Information
Title

Innovative Advanced Technology through University-Industry
Collaboration: Role of Venture Capitals, Entrepreneurs and Process
Management in Japan

Authors

Yoji Nakajima, Shuto Miyashita, Shintaro Sengoku

Citation

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 564-580

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.7545/ajip.2018.7.3.564

Pub. date

2018, 12Powered by T2R2 (Science Tokyo Research Repository)

Asian Journal
Journal ofof Innovation
Innovation andand Policy
Policy (2018)(2018) 7.3:564-580
7.3:564-580
Asian
DOI: http//dx.doi.org/10.7545/ajip.2018.7.3.564

Innovative Advanced Technology
through University-Industry Collaboration:
Role of Venture Capitals, Entrepreneurs andProcess Management in Japan
Yoji Nakajima*, Shuto Miyashita**, Shintaro Sengoku***
Abstract The creation of academic start-up firms is an important and practical issue
in the management of technology in Japan. The present study designs a model for
creating academic start-up firms that fits into the social context. It focuses on the caseof FIRST Program, an initiative that consists of 30 projects in innovative arenas,
analyses the presence of large-scale public funding, and investigates the role of venture
capitalists as support personnel in each project. As a result, the presence andsignificance of ‘long-term escort’ by an ‘entrepreneurial venture capitalist (EP-VCist)’
were confirmed as common features across the cases observed. EP-VCist refers to aperson who can maintain and fulfil dual roles at a university and a venture capital firm,
and who can take the lead throughout the venturing process as a risk taker. ‘Long-term
escort’ is a form of support that reduces risks in the venturing process by supporting
university researchers in the pre-entrepreneurial stage and by exerting a robust bridging
role between a university and an industry.
Keywords Start-up firm, R&D management, innovation ecosystem, venture finance,
university and industry collaboration, intellectual property

I. Introduction
1. Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship
Previous studies pointed out environmental and societal problems in thecreation and training of venture capitalists and start–up firms (NEDO, 2016;
Kimura, 2011; Feigenbaum and Brunner, 2002; Igarashi, 2005). Specifically,
Submitted, November 13, 2018; 1st Revised, December 23, 2018; Accepted, Decemer, 23
2018* School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan** School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan***Corresponding, School of Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Japan; sengoku@mot.titech.ac.jp564

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

the following five points are recognized as key issues: (1) inadequate goalsetting and low aspirations by entrepreneurs, (2) immaturities in the venture
capital industry and venture finance (Yamazaki, 2004.), (3) low mobility inhuman resources, (4) risk-averse posture of large corporations and government
agencies toward entrepreneurs as customers, and (5) a Japanese system
disinclined to embrace a new challenge after initial failure. By contrast,
venture capital in the United States plays an important role as an initiator ofventure creation and training as well as an enabler of venture finance(Feigenbaum and Brunner, 2002; Igarashi, 2005; Yamazaki, 2004).
Although venture capital in Japan is still in the process of development,
recently, experienced venture capitalists have begun to appear, and the creationof and training for university-originated start-up firms have become active.
Indeed, start-up firms that were founded in Japan since 2000 and that haveexperienced IPOs in the last five years such as LINE, Akatsuki, Coropler,
Euglena, SYBERDYNE, and PeptiDream, with market capitalization
exceeding JPY 100 billion, were mostly university-originated (three out ofthese six firms). In Japan's environment where university investment is
uncommon or difficult, and where the management capability of universityoriginated start-up firms is relatively poor, the venture capital industry is still
the main finance contributor; and managerial support by venture capitalists isextremely significant.
In light of the above, there is a growing awareness that university-originatedstart-up firms tend to generate significant market values in Japan, and thus,
further creation is expected in the future. As such, this study focuses on how
venture capitalists play a role in the process of creating university-originatedstart-up firms in Japan. It also explores a way to further develop the industry.
Particularly, since the supply of risk capital to university-originated start-up
firms is insufficient, it is necessary to explore other sources of venture financewhile utilizing public funds as proactive risk-takers.

2. Large Scale-Funding Programme
The importance of university-industry collaboration is broadly acknowledgedin the context of ‘open innovation’ (Chesbrough, 2003; Perkmann and Walsh,2007) as public research contributes to industrial research and development(R&D) through the channel of open science (Cohen et al., 2002). There areseveral forms of university-industry collaborations in which research
partnerships (e.g. collaborative research or university-industry research centre)
and research services (e.g. contract research or consulting) are two of the maintypes (Perkmann and Walsh, 2007). As an example of the latter, the activities at
Fraunhofer Institute in Germany represent a successful system that served as a
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Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

bridge between industrial innovation and fundamental research (Beise andStahl, 1999). However, the forms of research activities have shifted fromconventional small-group initiatives to large-scale R&D projects in recent
years (Anzai et al., 2012). Subsequently, the projects subsidized by large-scalefunding programmes have become the mainstream in public research activities
and the forms of collaborations between public research and industry havebecome more complicated due to diversified organizational interactions.
Currently, Japan's science and technology policies focus on linking scienceand technology to industrial superiority and on solving social problems
through innovation (Cabinet Office, 2017). It was in the Third Science andTechnology Basic Plan (2006-10) that innovation was introduced as animportant keyword of the policy package. Under this framework, in order toimplement the innovation policy, large-scale public grant programs (aimed at
the early industrial application of research results and the social
implementation of these results) were organized and promoted such as theFunding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D on Science andTechnology (FIRST Program, 2009-2013), the Impulsing Paradigm Change
through Disruptive Technologies Program (ImPACT, commenced in 2013),
the Centre of Innovation Program (or COI STREAM, commenced in 2013),
and others.
The FIRST Program, led by the Council for Science, Technology andInnovation from 2009, for 5 years was an R&D program aimed at securing theworld's leading position in 30 defined fields, from basic research to practicalapplication (Cabinet Office, 2017). It is a large public funding program put inplace for the purpose of opening up Japan’s future in the fields of science,technology, and innovation following the market disruption after the Lehman
shock. The FIRST Program committed a total of approximately JPY 110
billion to 30 selected leading-edge R&D projects led by 30 core researchers
assigned to each project. As part of the innovative impact on Japan’s economy
and society, the creation of start-up firms that implement R&D outcomes was
positioned to a factor of success for a project (Cabinet Office, 2017).
By investigating how the subsidiary projects of a large scale public R&D
funding designed for innovative and practical applications as a key exit
contribute to the creation and development of university-originated start-up
firms, we intend to explore avenues to further promote start-up creation andtraining in the Japanese context (Anzai and Sengoku, 2016). With this purposein mind, the present study examines the FIRST Program as a representative
case of recent developments. The specific reasons for choosing the FIRST
program are: (1) it is a large-scale public funding program deployed in Japanthat was organized and promoted since the 3rd Science and Technology Basic
Plan introduced the innovation policy; (2) the creation of university-originatedstart-up firms was centred on the objectives of the program, relevant to the566Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

purpose of this study; and (3) data around the actions taken during the program
as well as performance measures and outcomes have been published and areavailable for tour study (Cabinet Office, 2017).

3. Research Objectives
This study develops a model for the creation of university-originated start-up
firms that matches the social background of Japan by analysing the case of the
FIRST Program. As a key discussion point, we look at the role andresponsibility of venture capitals that are sources of complementary innovative
funds and are supportive of human resources i.e., venture capitalists in theprocess to innovate. Specifically, three sample projects were selected from thecases of university-originated start-up firms that were founded based ontechnological assets derived from the program.

II. Case and Analytical Method
To explore the model for creating academic start-up firms in Japan, we
adopted the theory-building approach through a case study (Eisenhardt, 1989;
Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007). Specifically, we sharpened hypothesis for the
supportive human resources in the context of a large-scale funding programme.
We selected three projects (Adachi, Kataoka and Kawai) as cases toinvestigate where university-originated start-up firms were created during or
after the FIRST Program (Kyulux, AccuRna, and Quantum Biosystems,
respectively). We also selected three venture capitalists (Sakamoto, Anzai, andHonkura) that provided support to each of these projects, respectively. Each ofthese VCists belongs to either QB Capital Joint Venture Company (‘QB
Capital’), Fast Track Initiative, Inc. (FTI), or the Industrial Innovation
Organization Co., Ltd. (INCJ), respectively. We conducted bibliometricanalysis using SciFinder to measure the number of publications and patents
applications over time. For a qualitative analysis on venture capitalists andaffiliated venture capitals, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviewsof these venture capitalists as well as collected publicly-available information.

III. Result
This study focused on the 30 projects of the FIRST Program as well as
selected project cases that meet the study objectives. Specifically, through ascreening of publicly-available information, we selected three cases where a567

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

venture capitalist was proactively involved as a management member in theprocess of creating a university-originated start-up firm related to the outcomesof the project. As a result, we identified three cases of projects and universityoriginated start-up firms, namely, Adachi, Kataoka, and Kawai projects. We
excluded the Koike project where the creation of a start-up firm was observed
but the participation of a venture capitalist was not in the starting phase of thebusiness. Therefore, we selected the above-mentioned three projects and forfurther investigation, included a set made up of an affiliated start-up firm, aventure capitalist, and a venture capital.

1. FIRST Program Projects
Adachi ProjectIn the Adachi project, the number of publications and patent applications had
both increased rapidly after the start of the FIRST Program (Figure 1a). Prior
to the FIRST program, Adachi's organic EL material had a low luminous
efficiency at a level that could not be put to practical use. However, R&D
efforts supported by the FIRST Program dramatically improved the conversion
efficiency and led to the development of the technology that went into
commercialization. More specifically, the third generation of new lightemission principles succeeded in realizing high luminous efficiency at a rare
metal-free low cost, achieving the development of an innovative proprietary
technology that overcame the weaknesses of the old generation, delivering aluminance of 3,000. Thus, it secured its durability over time (Cabinet Office,2011).
Kataoka Project
Kataoka had consistently maintained a high track record in both publications
and patent applications during the FIRST Program period (Figure 1b). R&D
results of the FIRST Program included the development of technologies toovercome drug resistance to cancer and the development of nanotechnologybased anticancer drugs with a superior level of directionality to cancer tissues
for refractory pancreatic cancer treatment. The project was also oriented to a
global standard in industry-academia collaboration by promoting thecommercial application of originated nanotechnology with anticancer drugs(Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, 2011). Specifically, R&D results
during the FIRST Program led to the establishment of AccuRna, a universityoriginated start-up firm.

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Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

Kawai Project
The number of publications in the Kawai project peaked in 2009 and thendeclined sharply thereafter (Figure 1c) resulting from Kawai’s retirement fromthe affiliated university. Kawai achieved technology development of seeds
leading to the creation of a university-originated start-up firm during the
FIRST sprogram period, and it took over the management of the project from
Taniguchi after his retirement. The results of R&D in the FIRST program thatwere linked to the creation of a university-originated start-up company are as
follows. The project succeeded to moderately control the speed of a singleDNA molecule in micro-fluidics with a nanometre-sized width and height byapplying a voltage to the electrode. In addition, by utilising semiconductor
technology to produce an electrode with one nanometre distance that
corresponds to the size of a single DNA molecule, the project yielded a world
record result in DNA or RNA sequencing by continuously measuring theelectric resistance of a single DNA molecule as well as RNA (Cabinet Office,2011) .

Note: Solid and dotted lines represent the number of yearly publications and patentapplications, respectively. a. Adachi project, b. Kataoka project and c. Kawai project.

Figure 1 Performance of each selected project569

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

2. Related Venture Capitals
The sizes of the funds of FTI, INCJ and QB Capital in JPY were 3.1 billion,
7.1 billion, and 300.0 billion, respectively, and were variable. The leading
limited partner of each of these funds was a public investor. QB Capital and
FTI received JPY 750 million and JPY 3 billion from the Organization for
Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation, respectively; INCJ
accepted a JPY 286 billion investment from the government of Japan. The
proportions of funding from public investors in these cases were 24%, 41%,
and 95%, respectively.
Furthermore, we also observed the contribution of additional public
programs aimed at facilitating the creation of university-originated start-up
firms in accordance with the FIRST Program and venture finance. The START
Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, andTechnology (MEXT) certified QB Capital and FTI. The START Program wasa public grant program aimed at the commercialization of early technical seeds
from universities and public research institutes. This was achieved throughhuman resources that have expertise in private business development. It also
supported the development of businesses that are high risk but have potential
in the pre-entrepreneurial stage as demonstrated in their corporate strategy andintellectual property. INCJ, a semi-public venture capital supported by METI,
has nurtured university-originated start-up firms as part of its corporate
mission from its outset.
Conclusively, QB Capital, FTI, and INCJ were venture capitalists that
promoted the creation and development of university-originated start-up firms
founded by public grant programs through the utilisation of public investment
for long-term support in accordance with the government’s innovation policy.

3. Related Start-up Firms
We examined three start-up firms: Quantum Biosystems, AccuRna, andKyulux, for their respective FIRST Program projects namely Adachi, Kataoka,
and Kawai, respectively, and found that these firms effectively received andutilised sufficient funding from public sources via venture capitals and public
program for their growth.
Quantum Biosystems, an affiliate firm of the Adachi project, procured JPY
130 million from leading venture capitals in Japan in 2013 and 2014, with total
funds reaching JPY 450 million through a third-party allocation of new stocks.
In 2015, the firm procured a total of JPY 2.4 billion from five venture capitals.
Tokyo University Edge Capital committed to the investment as a venture
capital accepting public funds to limited partners, like INCJ. Meanwhile,570

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

Quantum Biosystems was selected under the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO) Program for Seed-stage
Technology-based Start-ups (STS) in 2012. It was also selected by the
Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) for a grant to support
human resource development for new business creation in 2013.
AccuRna, an affiliate firm of the Kataoka project, held a capital alliance with
NanoCarrier Co., Ltd. in March 2016 where FTI committed to the financing
scheme.
Kyulux, an affiliate firm of the Kawai project, raised capital amounting to
JPY 1.5 billion in February 2016 from multiple venture capitalists and nonfinancial investors in accordance with the New Business Creation Support
Program promoted by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). In
April 2016, the firm procured approximately JPY 300 million and JPY 400
million from Samsung Display and LG Display, respectively. Public funds
were indirectly invested via QB Capital and JST.

4. Related Advisory Professionals
Entrepreneurs for university-originated start-up firms need to acquire skills
for business strategies, capital policies, and alliances; and also develop theability to foster relationships between the university and the industry. In the US,
serial entrepreneurs have accumulated experience in the start-up process from
related infrastructure in human resources (Stuart and Abetti, 1990; Colombo
and Grilli, 2005). In contrast, a talent pool of skilful entrepreneurs has been
scarce in Japan resulting in the entrepreneurs’ lack of management capability.
In the cases of the FIRST Program, Anzai and Honkura were themselves
considered top management in the start-up of AccuRna and Quantum
Biosystems as demonstrated by the results of the Kataoka and Kawai project,
respectively. Sakamoto participated as an outside director in the managementof Kyulux, a start-up firm based on the Adachi project.
Figure 2 shows a comparison of the profiles of Sakamoto, Anzai, andHonkura. A common feature among these professionals is that they all took
advantage of their university positions allowing them to generate an R&D
project at the university. Both their work experience and authority (by virtue of
their respective positions at the university) positively contributed to thetechnology sourcing and incubation at the university and the subsequent startup process. In other words, although they were external venture capitalists,they were also internal contributors at the university from the beginning of the
incubation process. Additionally, Anzai and Sakamoto had work experience at
the central government through which they gained familiarity and maintained571

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

networks with the supervisory ministries and funding agencies of the FIRST
Program.
Simultaneously, these three professionals were able to understand the trends
in and the progress of a particular scientific and technological field related tothe program with their expertise fostered at the university. In other words, they
all have acquired the skill to manage both business and technology based on
their academic background. Indeed, Anzai and Honkura had work experiencein management consulting firms while Sakamoto earned his MBA at abusiness school. As Cooper et al. (1994) and Westhead and Cowling (1995)
suggested, the higher the educational level of an entrepreneur is, the greater isthe growth potential of a start-up firm launched by that entrepreneur. Also, as
Almus and Nerlinger (1999) and Colombo and Grilli (2005) pointed out, anentrepreneur who has an academic degree in a relevant technical field could
enable greater growth for the start-up firms that he initiates. Such was the casefor these three professionals.

Key innovation policies and major career events were displayed in a time coursemanner. Blue, red and black boxes indicate activities related to venture capital,
academic and others, respectively.

Figure 2 Policy events and career background572

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IV. Discussion
1. Relationship between Research Leader and Advisors
From the results of the interviews and event sequence analysis we foundseveral common elements among these three advisory professionals in terms ofeducational background, collaborative work experience and proximity with therepresentative researchers of the projects in the FIRST Program (Table 1).
Regarding academic background, Adachi and Sakamoto are both in theengineering field; Kataoka and Anzai specialize in life sciences; and Kawaiand Honkura are involved in genome engineering. More specifically, Adachi
and Sakamoto share identical educational background at Kyushu University;
Kataoka and Anzai have similar educational backgrounds at the University ofTokyo despite their age difference; Kawai and Honkura share the sameeducational background at the Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of
Science and the University of Tokyo.
Notably, all these advisory professionals have kept a long-term relationshipwith their representative researchers in the FIRST Program. Specifically,
Adachi and Sakamoto shared work experience at the same company, Ricoh,
and also at Kyushu University in overlapping periods; Kataoka and Anzai havebeen working together in the Centre of NanoBio Integration (CNBI), a
previous R&D project at the University of Tokyo; Honkura has an academic
background as an assistant professor in a department at the University ofTokyo identical to that of Kawai’s.
A long period of time is necessary to form a relationship based on trust
between an advisory professional and a representative researcher. To foster
this relationship, Sakamoto and Anzai spent over ten years from their firstmeeting with their respective representative researchers, Adachi and Kataoka,
before establishing the start-up firm. By contrast, Honkura and Kawai wereacquainted for a short period of time (approximately 3 months) before
launching the start-up. However, both are specialized in genome engineeringand have been working at the same department, which was likely a key factor
in building a trusting relationship within a short term, as Honkura commented.
Cooper and Bruno (1977) pointed out that corporate growth is higher whenentrepreneurs do not do it alone but instead form a management team withseveral members. In addition, Zenger and Lawrence (1989) clarified that
communication becomes smooth by constructing a management team withmembers who have worked in the same organization. In the cases covered,each of these advisory professionals succeeded in forming a substantial
management team at the time of the establishment of a start-up firm based on
multiple commonalities to the corresponding representative researcher in terms
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of educational background, employment history, and collaborative work
experience, resulting in strong, trust-based relationships.
Table 1 Common characteristics of the EP-VCists

2. EP-VCist and Long-Term Escort
In this section, based on the observation and analysis above, weconceptualize such advisory professionals in the context of universityoriginated start-ups. Anzai, Honkura, and Sakamoto had features distinctivefrom the general characteristics of venture capitalists (Jungwirth and Moog,
2004). They were not typical supporting members who stand by the university
and focus on the incubation of technical seeds. Rather, they were a rare class ofprofessionals that took advantage of the dual specialised skills of academics
and venture capitalists. Furthermore, they were fully dedicated to the lead-in
process as risk takers. In other words, they themselves were entrepreneurs.
Therefore, we hereafter define the venture capitalist having such characteristics
as ‘entrepreneurial venture capitalist (EP-VCist)’.
In other words, the EP-VCist is an advisory professional capable ofproducing an innovative project at universities, and establishing sourcing andincubation of seed technologies aimed at launching a start-up by leveraging
his/her university position and work experience. An EP-VCist can
independently build a network based on his/her industrial, academic and public574

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

connections. Furthermore, an EP-VCist can establish strong relationships withrepresentative researchers at universities for long-term collaboration.
Simultaneously, as a venture capitalist, an EP-VCist can start a firm capable ofbuilding corporate strategies, capital policy, human resource management,
intellectual property strategies, among others (Ye et al., 2012), and lead thefirm’s management as the CEO or other relevant top management position
until the firm becomes established.
One of the features seen in the cases of EP-VCists is the ability to foster
relationships between the university and the industry sectors whilst taking
advantage of venture capital and dual specialized skills. By supporting
university researchers starting from the pre-entrepreneurial stage andconsequently reducing the risk of the start-up process, this form of support(that fosters relationships between the university and the industry sectors)
could be conceptualised as ‘long-term escort’ (Figure 3). Japan has lessmobility in technology, human resources and funds than other advanced
countries in the process of start-up creation resulting from a substantial gap
between the university and the industry sectors. In the three projects observed,
these EP-VCists were dedicated to accompanying these two groups(universities and industry sectors) over the long-term, possibly reducing therisk of the start-up process of these Japanese university-originated start-up
firms, and likely enhancing the mobility of relevant resources where gaps exist.
Stated differently, EP-VCist is a human resource capable of producing a
research programme at a university and conducting incubation and sourcing oftechnologies that would lead to the creation of a start-up firm, making full useof related university position and work experience. Additionally, an EP-VCist
is capable of independently building a network based on industry, academic
and governmental connections. Furthermore, an EP-VCist is able to establish
strong and trusting relationships with representative researchers at the
supported universities. Moreover, an EP-VCist, as a venture capitalist, iscapable of creating a start-up firm based on incubation and sourcing
technology. Upon creation, an EP-VCist can build business strategies, capital
policy, human resources, intellectual property strategies, etc., and serve as thefirm’s lead management as the CEO or COO, until the firm’s management isestablished.

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Figure 3 Significance of the long-term escort model

3. Management of Intellectual Property
The technical strengths of a start-up firm are considered core competencies
until they gain sustainable manageability. In order for a start-up firm to acquire
technical strength at its establishment, the firm needs to acquire an exclusive
license with a sublicense right for its core technology, and its related patents
can be utilised in an autonomous manner (Japan Patent Office, 2016; MEXT,
Japan, 2017). However, the exclusive form of licensing for universityoriginated patents is limited to less than 30% of all licenses granted, with morethan 70% of these licenses granted under non-exclusive conditions. This
contrasts with the situation in the United States where over 90% of deals arelicensed under exclusive conditions (Japan Patent Office, 2016).
One of the reasons that licenses from Japanese universities tend to be nonexclusive is that there are multiple stakeholders for a patent resulting fromcollaborative R&D with large enterprises and limited capability of universities
to maintain the acquired patents. Consequently, majority of the patents end up
being owned by both entities and subsequently licensed to universityoriginated start-up firms in a non-exclusive arrangement. In the case of a joint
application with a large enterprise, it is possible for a university to reduce thecost for maintaining the patents, thus increasing the number of patentapplications. This systemic factor hinders the strategic freedom of a universityoriginated start-up firm to scale up towards the sustainable management phase.
In contrast, in the cases of FIRST Program projects, these constraints weregenerally avoided by the presence of the EP-VCist. Table 2 shows a576

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

comparison of licensing agreements for AccuRna, Quantum Biosystems, andKyulux. Quantum Biosystems and Kyulux succeeded in acquiring exclusive
rights with the patent license for start-up purposes. One of the key successfactors was that these EP-VCists, who retain dual specialised skills at theuniversity and the venture capital, were familiar with the management ofintellectual properties and the norms and practices that are common inadvanced regions.
Table 2 Profile of established start-up firms

EP-VCists frequently come and go between industry and academia in theprocess of nurturing a long-term relationship. This requires strict managementof potential conflicts of interest. To address this issue, FTI and AccuRna,(which carried out activities in cooperation with universities, medical
institutions and publicly-funded R&D projects) set up a committee overseeing
potential conflicts of interest whereby a third party member has to confirm thefacts related to its investment track record to improve countermeasures for the
potential risk. In the case of INCJ and Quantum Biosystems, a similar practice
was undertaken by INCJ that resulted in a no-go decision during the seedfinancing. INCJ finally participated in the second round of financing where
due diligence was undertaken in a much stricter fashion than usually practiced.
In the case of QB Capital and Kyulux, Sakamoto was in charge of a committee
dealing with conflicts of interest when he oversaw the industry-university
collaboration at Kyushu University. Reviewing these three cases, the skill inmanaging potential conflicts of interest is considered to be one of the key
attributes of EP-VCists.

V. Conclusion
This study devised a new model for the creation of high technology-based
university-originated start-up firms that matches Japanese social context andinvestigated the significance of large-scale public funding and the role of577

Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy (2018) 7.3:564-580

venture capitalists. Focusing on the FIRST Program in Japan, we found three
relevant cases, Adachi, Kataoka, and Kawai projects where universityoriginated start-up firms were generated. As a result of our analysis, common
features across these cases were confirmed. These features include thepresence of entrepreneurial venture capitalists (or EP-VCists) and the model oflong-term escort. An EP-VCist is a rare professional capable of maintaining
and utilising the special dual skills required in universities and venture capital
firms, and a risk taker able to directly lead the early phase of the start-up. The
long-term escort is a process management model where an EP-VCist reduces
the risk associated with a start-up by assisting a representative researcher of the
project from the seed stage and also supporting the formation of a close
relationship between the university and the industry sectors. We believe thatthese configurations are necessary for a model to effectively create auniversity-originated start-up firm that is suited to Japanese-specific social andindustrial contexts. We expect the outcomes of this study to serve as a basis forfurther studies with wider and more in-depth context.

Acknowledgement
The authors would thank Dr. Tomohiro Anzai, Dr. Honkura and Mr.
Tsuyoshi Sakamoto for their exclusive contributions to the interviews. We also
thank all the members of COINS and/or Tokyo Institute of Technology related
to the present study for providing us of the case and information sources. The
present study was financially supported by the Center of Innovation Programfrom Japan Science and Technology Agency, JST (COINS).

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