Characteristics of university startups in Japan

Abstract

Although university startup companies are expected to be a source of innovation around the world, economic effects of university startups have not been investigated thoroughly, especially outside of the United States. As described in this paper, we analyzed the characteristics and economic effects of companies started at The University of Tokyo, a world-recognized research university. Results show that very few successful startup companies account for most of the economic value created by all university startups. If the startup companies are expected to be a source of innovation, then it is necessary to have a large number of startup companies, assuming that most of them will end in failure. University-related startups are of two types: student-driven startups and faculty-driven research-based startups. The economic value created by student-driven startups is roughly equal to that created by faculty-driven research-based startups. To achieve economic development, promoting student entrepreneurship is equally important as promoting commercialization of the outcomes of academic research at universities.