Le Japon, puissance technologique : présent et futur

In: Politique étrangère: revue trimestrielle publiée par l'Institut Français des Relations Internationales, Band 50, Heft 1, S. 55-69

Abstract

Japan, a Technological Power : Présent and Future, by Marc Dupuis
Even if Japan has been recently drawing attention by progress made in a continuously increasing number of high technology fields, there still exists some area in which a gap has to be filled ; it is in particular the case of nuclear energy and, more especially, space, in which the present dépendance on the United States is very strong, and the materialization of future independance plans will be hampered by an incomplete development scheme. As for biotechnologies, Japan is quite in the competition, but its main asset is a very strong position in the fields of electronics and new materials, because relevant technologies have applications in the whole industrial field and will contribute to increase in the coming years its economical power. Such an increase should not destabilize the US-Japan industrial and technological axis, in which cooperation will prevail over competition through the natural build up of relations between high technology firms. Europe, on the other hand, may reequilibrate its technological position with respect to Japan, if a complete program of space development can be carried out successfully and without delay.