Japanese government funding of optoelectronic research has long followed a pattern of investing in highly speculative projects targeted on mass markets, a few of which develop large payoffs. It appears that optoelectronics is regarded in Japan as a major vehicle to propel Japanese electronic product dominance into the next century. They are moving manufacturing offshore, including to the United States, and because of continuing investment in incremental improvement and in process innovations, these offshore foundries will be strong competitors. In broad overview, the United States leads Europe in manufacturing but lags behind Japan. Research institutes and some universities are performing leading studies in these areas.
Japanese companies invest more in worker education and training than do their U.S. counterparts.
A 1996 panel chaired by George Gamota found that Japan's growing basic research program has been increasingly successful. In spite of economic problems in Japan, JRDC's budget has nearly doubled recently. A 1996 panel on rapid prototyping chaired by Fritz Prinz found that the United States is ahead in technical innovations, materials, and manufacturing applications of layered manufacturing technology. In the area of machine design, the United States is at parity with Europe and Japan. In rapid prototyping for medical applications, U.S. efforts are behind those of Europe and Japan.