It industry development by dynamic transformed human networks in Sapporo valley

Sapporo Valley in Hokkaido of Japan has IT industrial accumulation that has been spontaneously generated since the middle of the 1970s. Sapporo Valley has 247 IT companies with the sales of 366 billion yen and the employment of 16,085 people in the fiscal year 2007. The human networks among members (university professors, CEOs of IT company, journalists and local government officers) has been formed in Sapporo Valley through the participation in the study groups and the projects. The collaboration between those networks has deepened by joint activities and the networks dynamically transformed according to the changes of the circumstances. Many spin-off companies have been emerged by the support of those human networks in Sapporo Valley. This paper attempts to demonstrate that the dynamic transformed human networks has cultivated their members entrepreneurship and has contributed to the development of IT industry in Sapporo Valley. They can be thought of as a regional innovation system.