The government will submit to the Diet a bill today to allow national and public university professors and researchers to concurrently serve as corporate board members to facilitate technology transfer from the academic to industrial sectors, government officials said. The move is part of efforts to improve Japan's industrial competitiveness. The legislation has been prompted by the controversy stirred last year when then Hitotsubashi University professor Iwao Nakatani was forced to resign from the national institution to accept Sony Corp.'s offer of the post of an outside director due to regulations under the National Civil Servant Law. By amending the law, the government is now easing the regulation to enable professors and researchers to team up with private-sector companies to turn the outcome of their academic research into industrial projects that are deemed to benefit public interest. The legislation would also allow national and public universities to flexibly use funds offered from the private sector when entrusted with projects and undertaking joint research. Roughly 2.6 billion yen is being allocated in fiscal 2000 to subsidize those university researchers who are to engage in research and development on demand from industrial sectors. Meanwhile, the government will submit another bill to the Diet today to revise the Small and Medium Enterprise Guidance Law to efficiently help small and medium size companies secure managerial resources, setting up some 300 support centers nationwide.
