Compared to the United States, where capable researchers can have their own independent laboratories by the time they reach their early 30s, the environment for young Japanese researchers within the framework of a hierarchy system, with professors at the top, is untenable. The system should be changed into one in which young researchers can exercise their ability freely. In the United States, the establishment of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980 increased the number of patent applications by universities and provided a legal background for converting study results into businesses. Under the law, revenues from patent fees are paid to universities, their departments and researchers. Another problem is that it is not necessarily clear to whom a patent, based on a university's studies, belongs.
Japanese researchers lack the enthusiasm to obtain patents.
Studies at universities are for the pursuit of truth and, at the same time, are funded by the people's taxes. It is a matter of course that the benefit of these studies should be given back to society. But first we must change the way researchers think.