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THE IMPORTANCE
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OF IP MANAGEMENTOF IP MANAGEMENTTECHNICIANTECHNICIANThe Importance of Intellectual Property Management Technician forJapan's economic growth1

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Ⅰ. Introduction
In recent years, Japan has established 280 qualification systems based on laws andregulations. In addition, 26 systems and 173 projects based on Certification System for
Civilian Technician Examination Projects. And according to another theory, the 2009 editionof Jiyu Kokumin-sha's "Complete Book of National Examinations and Qualifications"indicates that there are 1,249 national qualifications in Japan, excluding some qualifications(The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, 2010, P.49). In such a situation, people
who want to work tend to think about what kind of qualification they need to obtain to earn astable income. With the collapse of the bubble economy, the collapse of Lehman Brothers,
the changing demographic structure, and the recent economic changes caused by the spreadof COVID-19 infections, the job market has become unclear, and some people may want togain a slight advantage over others by obtaining such qualifications (Hori, 2021, P.74-78). In
fact, the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training's "Fact-finding Survey on the
Recruitment and Hiring of Young People by Companies" found that companies consider
qualifications to be important in the hiring process for 5.3% of new graduates, 7.2% of
second graduates, and 18.7% of mid-career workers. From this data, It can be seen that theimportance of qualifications to job seekers is a factor that cannot be ignored. (Kouno, 2013,
P.177-188), (The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, 2008, P.9-10)

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3【figure.1】 Items that are emphasized in corporate recruitment and selection

・ The survey was conducted under the condition that up to three multiple answers wereallowed.
・Unit：%
・ The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training, Survey Series No. 43: Survey on
recruitment and hiring of young people in companies Compiled from Chart 1.9

As these data show, the existence of qualifications is likely to be recognized as useful in
professional life in Japan. However, as indicated earlier, with more than 1,000 qualifications,
it is possible to develop a debate about which qualifications are more profitable for workers.
Therefore, in order to examine the importance of the national qualification "Intellectual
Property Management Technician" in the society, which is the theme of this paper, it isnecessary to clarify the potential and characteristics of this qualification. It needs to beTHE IMPORTANCE OF IP MANAGEMENT TECHNICIAN

4clarified whether this national qualification is just for the state to give workers the right to use
the qualification name or whether it is worth more than that. In this paper, it will clarify themeaning of the name, the profession, and the profession backed by the law of intellectual
property management technician by comparing it with other qualification that also deal withintellectual property such as patent attorney.

Ⅱ. What is the professional technician system in Japan?
First of all, what is the meaning of the term "technician" in the name of Intellectual
Property Management Technician? Technician, that is also called certified skilled worker, arecertified by the Japanese government as professionals in a variety of professions, and there
are a total of 130 different types of national qualifications, including intellectual property
management technicians. (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2020, List of Trade Skills
Tests Occupations), (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2021, A Step Toward the
Future), (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, 2020, About the Trade Skills Test System)
This category of national qualifications, called technicians, are supported by a law called the
Vocational Ability Development Promotion Law. The following is the part of the law thatdefines a technician.

< Excerpt from the Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act >Chapter V. Trade Skills Tests( Trade Skills Tests )Article 44 (1) The Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare gives trade skills tests which
are classified into grades specified by Order of the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare
and classified into occupations specified by a Cabinet Order (hereinafter referred to as "tradeskills tests by occupation" in this Article); provided, however, that the minister may giveTHE IMPORTANCE OF IP MANAGEMENT TECHNICIAN

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trade skills tests which are specified by Order of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
as those not suitable for specific classification, without specifying the classes.

( Title of Persons Who Passed the Examination )Article 50 (1) A person who passed a trade skill test may refer themselves as a certified
skilled worker. ※※ Certified skilled worker (Article 50 (1)) means technician on this paper.
・Adapted from “Digital Agency, Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act, e-Gov
Law Search”

Thus, Article 44 and Article 50 of the Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act
provide the basis for the establishment of these technicians. On the other hand, the question
remains, what is the mission of the Technician as a national qualification. In order tounderstand this, it is necessary to delve deeper into the Vocational Ability Development
Promotion Act, which is the basis of this law. The following is an excerpt from the law that
corresponds to the purpose of the law.

Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act
Chapter I. General Provisions(Purpose)
Article 1

The purpose of this Act, together with the Employment Countermeasures Act(Act No. 132 of 1966), is to promote the development and improvement of the abilities ofworkers needed for their jobs, by taking the measures in a comprehensive and systematicmanner for enriching the contents of vocational training courses and vocational abilities tests
for the smooth implementation of thereof and the measures for securing the opportunities forTHE IMPORTANCE OF IP MANAGEMENT TECHNICIAN
workers to voluntarily receive education and take training courses relate to their job or
vocational abilities tests, and thereby to ensure job security and improve the status ofworkers, as well as to contribute to the economic and social development as a whole.

・Adapted from “Digital Agency, Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act, e-Gov
Law Search”

As a result, the Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act was enacted to develop
and improve the skills of workers in order to stabilize their employment and improve theirstatus, and the technician system was established as part of this law.
For this reason, unlike patent attorneys, who are given the exclusive right to representclients in applying for intellectual property rights, intellectual property management
technicians are involved in the management of intellectual property and the planning ofinternal policies as a member of a company or organization. In other words, in the same waythat an object that is just a piece of paper or a small piece of metal takes on the value ofmoney when the government gives it the meaning of credit, a worker who has the ability tooperate a certain amount of intellectual property is given credit by the government which
gives that worker a competitive edge in the market.
But, why does the government certify the Intellectual Property Management Technician
and other technician systems? The purpose of the technician system is to "contribute to thedevelopment of the Japanese economy and society," as stated in the end of Article 1 of the
Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act. In other words, intellectual property
management technicians are expected to contribute to the economic and social developmentof the nation as a whole by promoting the process of value creation in the companies andorganizations to which they belong.

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Ⅲ. What is intellectual property? And how is it created?
As mentioned earlier, if the Intellectual Property Management Technician is one of the
130 types of technicians who specialize in intellectual property, it is necessary to clarify thetype of intellectual property. The following is a classification chart of intellectual property
and intellectual assets.

【figure.2】 Image of classification of intellectual property rights, intellectual property,
intellectual assets, and intangible assets※ The above-mentioned intangible assets are not synonymous with the intangible fixed
assets recorded on the balance sheet, but are viewed as all the formless management
resources owned by the company.
・Adapted from “Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2020). What are Intellectual
Assets and Intellectual Asset Management?”

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8As shown in the figure above, in Japan, various laws protect these rights by law, and theowner of the rights can profit from them. Intellectual property, like tangible property, can bemonopolized under certain conditions. However, because it is immaterial, they requiredifferent skills than those required for the management of tangible property rights at eachstage of property recognition, creation, management, monetization, and protection. In thissense, an Intellectual Property Management Technician is a guide, a guardian, and a keeperof the money tree called intellectual property. In Japan, where resources are particularly
limited, it is expected that intellectual property management technicians will be required toplay an even more active role in the future in order to promote society.

Ⅳ. What does it mean to create intellectual property?
As has been made clear thus far, intellectual property is property that does not have aform. So how can this creation of incorporeal property be realized? In the first place, property
that can be sold to generate money is considered to be created by combining the factors of
production, capital and labor. Now, it is necessary to clarify the types of incorporeal property
with new value that is created by adding labor. The following figure shows the various typesof incorporeal property derived from the example of the Haber-Bosch chemical process,which is also taught in high school science.

THE IMPORTANCE OF IP MANAGEMENT TECHNICIAN【figure.3】 An example of incorporeal value creation process using the Haber-Boschchemical process (Matsuda, 2018)9

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In the past, these German scientists, Haber and Bosch, made a revolutionary invention to
improve the efficiency of food production by making it easier to obtain the raw materials fornitrogen fertilizer from the mundane gas nitrogen and hydrogen. (Matsuda, Kazuo, 2018)
The important point here is that by adding the labor to the ownerless intangible materials
such as nitrogen and hydrogen, we are producing something beneficial to mankind. Such
newly discovered manufacturing methods and products are protected by the government for acertain period of time as intellectual property rights, including patents, in accordance withprescribed procedures. This is an example of a process of value and property creation, bornby human hands from something that exists universally in the world.
So, what is the concept of labor that is required to generate this intangible property andintellectual property. According to Tamura (2021) introduced, Kant's idea of possession isthat ”Possession is necessary in order to be able to compound one's own will to the object inorder to affect this world. And as a result, that person will be able to achieve further
prosperity.” (Tamura, 2021, P.9) From Kant's argument, we can see that when people create
tangible and intangible property, such as content and qualifications, with the aim of gaining
prosperity, there is a process of compounding their will, thoughts, ideas, and information into
these raw materials they have.
This act of "compounding one's will, thoughts, ideas, information, etc., into a mediumthat one holds in one's hands" is itself a part of the function of labor, and the quality of thatlabor depends on how much skill one possesses. In particular, the Intellectual Property
Management Skills Test is a system by which the government objectively evaluates the levelof skills required in the process of creating intellectual property. The existence of this processof labor and value production is the reason why there is a need for a group of experts calledIntellectual Property Management Technician who are well versed in this field and certified

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by the government. And as a force for economic revitalization, this system will become more
important to the country and, by extension, to its sovereign citizens.

Ⅴ. Conclusion
The process of creating something more valuable by adding different elements to things
that exist universally in the world, is a human activity that has been repeated many times in
the history of mankind since ancient times. Some of the Greek philosophical ideas discovered
by Plato, Aristotle, and others eventually led to attempts at alchemy, which aimed to create
precious metals from base metals. And even though it did not fulfill the original goal of
creating gold for those who aspired to alchemy at that time, it eventually led to great
discoveries related to human life and life sciences such as modern chemistry, pharmacy, andany other sciences. With the history of these intellectual pursuits, it can be said that invention
and innovation are inseparable from the state of humanity and the development ofcivilization. How can something new and valuable be created? In response to this question,
the economist Schumpeter (1883-1950) wrote in his book, "The Theory of Economic
Development".

”To produce is to combine the various things and forces available to us. To change theproduct and the method of production is to change the combination of these things andforces.” (Yoshimura, 2015, P.2-3)

Schumpeter used the term "new combination" to describe this law of value creation, andit can be said that he is showing what business person should do in various corporate
activities and value creation. Today, there are more than 110,000 intellectual property
management technicians, a group of in-house professionals who are responsible for the value

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creation, protection and operation of intellectual property. (Association of Intellectual
Property Education, 2021) And this system has the potential to become a guidepost forcompanies to strengthen their profitability in the chaotic Japanese economic market.
Therefore, this group of experts will be required to play a more active role in the future
economic recovery of Japan.

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References
Association of Intellectual Property Education. (2021.12). Number of intellectual
property management technicians in Japan, National Examination: Intellectual Property
Management Skills Test, Retrieved December 23, 2021, fromhttp://www.kentei-info-ip-edu.org

Digital Agency, Vocational Ability Development Promotion Act, e-Gov Law Search,
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Hori, Yukie. (2021). The Effect of COVID19 Infection Spread on the Employment of
New College Graduates, Japanese Journal of Labor Research, 63(4), P.74-78, Retrieved

December 16, 2021, fromhttps://ci.nii.ac.jp/naid/40022535852/
Kansai Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2020). Recommendations forIntellectual Property Management, Retrieved January 2, 2022, fromhttps://www.kansai.meti.go.jp/2giki/chitekishisan/chiteki_top.html
Kouno, Takako. (2013). Relationship between the qualification as communication skillsin the modern society and motivation in the job hunting (1), Hiroshima Shudo University
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etail&item_id=2009&item_no=1&page_id=13&block_id=62
Matsuda, Kazuo. (2018). Making Bread from Air -A Story of Ammonia-, Tsukuba

Science News, Retrieved December 23, 2021, from

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http://www.tsukuba-sci.com/?column01=空気からパンを作る%E3%80%80～アンモニアの話～
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2020). What are Intellectual Assets andIntellectual Asset Management?, Retrieved December 18, 2021, fromhttps://www.meti.go.jp/policy/intellectual_assets/teigi.html

Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2020). About the Trade Skills Test System,
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kill/ginoukentei/index.html
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2020). List of Trade Skills Tests Occupations(130 types), Retrieved December 17, 2021, fromhttps://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/ginoukenteisyokusyu_ichiran.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2021). A Step Toward the Future - A Sure
Certification - 2021 Trade Skills Tests for All Grades Exam Guide, Retrieved December
16, 2021, fromhttps://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/000484341.pdf
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. (2021). A Step Toward the Future - A Sure

Certification - 2021 Trade Skills Tests for Students Exam Guide, Retrieved December 16,
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Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. (2020). What are Intellectual Assets andIntellectual Asset Management?, Retrieved January 2, 2022, fromhttps://www.meti.go.jp/policy/intellectual_assets/teigi.html

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Tamura, Yoshiyuki. (2021). Frontiers of Intellectual Property, Volume 1: The Present
and Future of Academic Research, Chapter 1, II, 3, P.9, Retrieved November 20, 2021,
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The Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training. (2010). Analysis of Occupational
Qualifications in Japan -From the Web Qualifications Survey-, Labor Policy Research
Report No.121, Chapter 2. Current Status and Trend of Occupational Qualifications, 1(2),P.49, Retrieved December 16, 2021, fromhttps://www.jil.go.jp/institute/reports/2010/documents/0121-1_02.pdf
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