特別記念対談「未来を拓く独創と革新の力、イノベーションを人類の幸福に」リチャード・R・ネルソン博士
コロンビア大学名誉教授

福 井

第２７回本田賞受賞

威 夫

本田技研工業株式会社
代表取締役社長

Special Commemorative Dialogue

Challenge plus creativity equals
Innovations for human happiness
Dr. Richard R. Nelson
Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
Honda Prize Laureate 2006

Takeo Fukui
President and CEO, Honda Motor Company Ltd.

特別記念対談
Special Commemorative Dialogue「未来を拓く独創と革新の力、イノベーションを人類の幸福に」
Challenge plus creativity equals
Innovations for human happiness
技術や社会制度における「イノベーション」の研究を続けてきたリチャード・Ｒ・ネルソン博士と独自の革新的企業文化を未来に継ぐ本田技研工業・福井威夫社長。二人の対話から、時代を越えて発展を続けるイノベーションの真理を探る。
You may find a clue to what innovation is about from this dialogue between Dr. Richard R. Nelson, a
researcher of long-run economic change through the interaction of technological innovation andinstitutional evolution, and Takeo Fukui, the energetic leader of Honda Motor’s unique innovative culture.

リチャード・R・ネルソン博士
コロンビア大学名誉教授

Dr. Richard R. Nelson
George Blumenthal Professor of International andPublic Affairs, Business, and Law, Emeritus,
Columbia University■略歴1952 年

オベリン大学（米オハイオ州）卒業

1968 年

イエール大学教授

1980 年

イエール大学社会政策研究所所長

1986 年

コロンビア大学教授

2005 年

コロンビア大学名誉教授

福井威

現在に至る

■Personal History
1952
B.A., Oberlin College
1968
Professor of Economics, Yale University
1980
Director, Institute for Social and Policy
Studies, Yale University
1986
Professor, Columbia University,
2005
Professor Emeritus

夫

本田技研工業株式会社 代表取締役社長

Takeo Fukui
President and CEO, Honda Motor Company Ltd.
■Personal History■略歴1969 年

早稲田大学卒業

1969

ホンダレーシング社長兼
本田技術研究所常務取締役

Honda Motor after graduation fromWaseda University.

1987 年

1987Managing director of Honda R&D as wellas the president of Honda Racing.

1998 年

本田技術研究所社長
本田技研工業専務取締役

1998

2003 年

本田技研工業代表取締役社長
現在に至る

Senior managing director of Honda
Motor as well as the president of Honda
R&D.

2003

President and CEO of Honda Motor.

本田技研工業入社

Special Commemorative Dialogue

Challenge plus creativity equals
innovations for human happiness
Dr. Richard R. Nelson
Professor Emeritus, Columbia University
Honda Prize Laureate 2006

Takeo Fukui
President and CEO, Honda Motor Company Ltd.

Foster lasting innovative environment
Takeo Fukui

First of all, Dr. Nelson, you received the 27th Honda Prize for your longtime

innovation research, which is becoming increasingly influential in corporate decision-making
and public policymaking processes. Please accept my hearty congratulations.
Richard Nelson

Thank you very much. It is my great honor, on this day of Soichiro Honda’s100th birthday, to receive the award that bears his name. I thank my lucky stars.
TF

I’m deeply impressed by our encounter on the centennial of Soichiro Honda’s birththrough the theme of innovation, for innovation has always been a motif underlying ourcorporate culture. Soichiro was, as well as being an adept engineer of his superb ideas, anextraordinarily innovative manager. Just as an example, he detached Honda R&D from Honda
Motor to create a free nursery of technology invention and innovation. The innovativeenvironment he created still serve as the backbone of our unrelenting challenges.
RN

In the study of many models of economic change—rises and falls of companies andnations, I have had a strong interest in learning the strength of the Japanese carmakers behind
their secular growth. And part of the reasons may lie in the succession of innovativeenvironment you’ve just told me.
TF

Yes, we’ve surely inherited tangible and intangible assets from our founders, which makeit easier to bring about innovation in a spontaneous manner at any place within the company.
But without updates, we cannot spark innovation. Our founders have left various types of what
we call “company genes,” but we wondered if there were outdated genes that may get in theway. So in an internal project several years ago, we sorted out these genes and picked up ones
to carry over to the 21st century, like know-how, Honda language, proprietary activity system,and stuff like that.
RN

That sounds a quite unique exercise. To my knowledge, anywhere in the Americanindustry there used to be a practice in which managers and associates meet together and discuss－5－future directions, but it became obsolete long ago to my regret. Honda is different from thispractice; your focus has been not on the direction to go, but on the selection to make on thecompany DNA. Yours is a special corporate culture.
TF

You are probably the first economist who focused on the roles of technology innovation

in society. Could you tell me what made you decide so?
RN

When I was in graduate school, a question hit me. Many countries had seen enormous

improvements in the productivity and the standard of living from late 18th century to themiddle of the last century, but others not. How come? I started to study the process of
economic growth, and soon noticed that some nations grew quick and continued to prosper,some had just started to grow, while others lagged behind in poverty. What makes thedifference? This is where I began.
TFI see. That’s a very fundamental question. As a corporate leader, I’m always concerned

about the right direction of my company. But the underlying concern that drives me relates towhat you’ve just said.
RNAs a matter of fact, this is an age-old question in economics. A few hundred years ago,

Adam Smith, "the father of modern economics," wrote his famous "An Inquiry into the Natureand Causes of the Wealth of Nations"—a book about economic growth strategy.
In this text, Adam Smith tries to understand why some nations prosper while others not, andexplores how a nation's allocation of resources affects its wealth. In this context, mine can beviewed as a classic question of economics carried over from the age of Adam Smith.
TF

I suppose the livelihood of poor people would improve if we know what determines theallocation of resources. Could you extend what you’ve found in your research?
RNOK, I did substantial research on this topic, and came to conclude technology innovationis the driving force behind the past two century’s enormous improvements in the productivity
and the standard of living. This means, for fuller understanding of the process of economic
growth, I need to study how those innovations came about, or more broadly, the process ofadvance in technology.
At the same time, I also found technology innovation had been an area left untouched inmodern economics. In other words, in order to work in earnest on this theme, I myself had tobe an innovator of research on technology innovation. Then I went to MIT for one year tostudy engineering. From my experience there and elsewhere, I have always had a strong
interest in, and respect for, technology in general; and such experience allows me to talkempathetically with engineers, too.
FT

I’m very glad to hear that. We can understand your viewpoint in keen sympathy because

all Honda CEOs including myself have an engineering background, and we all know technicalstrength is a driving force for innovation.

－6－

Lead the way by clearing the most difficult
FTDr. Nelson, could you list a few of notable cases in which sci-tech innovation has playeda key role in the sound progress of society?
RNWell, for example, a set of enabling technologies made possible to implement the CFC

regulations against ozone depletion. At first many governments had opposed the move, andsome even used their vetoes. But as CFC-substitute technologies were quickly made available,
the opposing countries became able to get the CFC regulations reflected in their respectivepolicies.
FT

We had a similar example. In 1970s, we succeeded in the development of the world’s firstengine, CVCC, which meets the strict criteria of the Muskie Act. I was just hired whenassigned to the CVCC project, and I got really into the development day in, day out. TheCVCC engine is a milestone for the Honda innovation that heralded our subsequent culture ofchallenge.
RN

Actually in my country, a lot of people are amazed to see Japanese carmakers keep

producing quality vehicles for years. The Consume Reports, a popular magazine, reports once ayear expert ratings and reviews on various types of consumer goods; and I remember Honda
and other Japanese models swept the top positions in the 1980s, and after a quarter century
they still do. It seems this is in large part because you keep up the good work in terms ofevolutionary progress. I wonder if Japanese carmakers share innovation strategies each otherfor steady production of quality products. Or is there any secret that differentiates Honda fromits competitors?
TFEach carmaker is one of a kind, I guess. Honda’s innovation thrives on individualstrengths. We have a culture in which our associates are empowered and trained to take onchallenges, and they tackle the hardest ones as evidenced in the case of the CVCC engine. For
another instance, when we started to expand overseas 50 years ago, we chose to build our first
factory in Belgium just because Belgian government had faced difficult labor issues andimposed the strictest restrictions on foreign companies. In our founder’s thinking, however,“Once you conquer the toughest country, the rest is a piece of cake.” Of course, we had to do
everything as the victims of these words (laugh). Seriously, this kind of difficult experience
early on our motorcycle business helped us a lot start the four-wheel factory in the UnitedStates in the late 1970s, ahead of our Japanese competitors. I don’t think there was a necessity
in launching the Ohio operation; it’s financially ridiculous if you just look at currency rates atthat time. I guess it was more of an ideological decision in underlying belief that products
should be made and tested in a great market—what a bold decision, but we succeeded after all.

－7－

Eggs of innovation in many baskets for future
RN

I have dreamed of a society in which people from different countries, irrespective of thedifference in the pace of progress in their respective country, cooperate with each other,advance at their own pace, and lead happy lives. Could you tell me a bit about your dreams, ordreams of Honda? What do you think is necessary to expedite innovation to fulfill yourdreams?
TF

To look back on our history, the key to Honda’s continued growth is we have set up morethan one pillar for our business by starting off with motorcycles, but expanding into
automobiles and other power products. From various seeds we sowed, many stems grew.
Having many stems makes it easier to thrive on adversity or challenges as well as to bringabout innovation.
For a recent example, we started the development of fuel cell vehicle in the underlying
conviction hydrogen will be the next energy. Of course, this project has a lot to do withenvironment and energy issues; but at a deeper level, it has been driven by our dream to alter
the way auto industry advances with our fuel cell technology, which could in turn change oursocial evolution path set by the piston engine. No doubt a big challenge like this is prone todifficulties; but we can go because we’ve got our empowered associates and never blame themfor their constructive failures.
RN

Human society used to be ruled by a handful of elites, but today our focus is on how tolift the intellectual level of the entire society by providing universal access to quality education.
By acquiring basic scientific knowledge, every citizen can understand where he or she is now
from a historical and global perspective.
Spread of quality education is essential if we aim to achieve sustainable development
because we know we’d face a lot of tradeoff situations and often make painful choices in thefuture. Although policymakers consider a balance between the cost and gain of such pains,
many people don’t understand why they need to pay their prices due to their ignorance. And if
we choose an innovation-driven path for sustainable development, it’s essential to eradicate
scientific ignorance through quality education; otherwise, innovation-focused policies could
never be supported by the majority. Conversely, if innovation-driven growth is on the way, it
should bode well for the spread of Honda Foundation’s ecotechnology.
TF

Thank you for your valuable insight. In my view, Honda Motor and Honda Foundation

are like brothers. Honda Motor uses its monozukuri (“making things”) and Honda Foundation
its concept of ecotechnology to fulfill the Soichiro’s motto: “Dreams and Happiness for All,with Technology.” We also share the DNA in which we cannot help but to dream big and go for
those dreams. Soichiro once set up an anonymous fund and aided lots of spirited researchers,
many of whom became sci-tech leaders of Japan later. As a kind of its extension, Honda
Foundation just started an award program in Asia 2006, in order to support future sci-tech－8－

leaders and sounder development of their countries. Honda Motor is also extending its frontiersby, for example, fuel cell and related environmental technologies, the two-legged robot ASIMO,and the HondaJet aircraft developed in the United States.
All these projects stem from the DNA of no one but Soichiro whose innovative mind was filledwith love for people. And I guess his DNA still fosters the dynamisms of both organizations.
Complacency is our enemy, and we always try to start and complete new challenges in the bigpicture. We believe iterating this process consolidates our innovative technical strength,
extends our company’s life, and consequently boosts human happiness.

■ This report is for website of Honda Prize Commemorative Lectures only, and not available in print.

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