, Columnist
Japan’s Industrial Giants Get a Much-Needed Push
Instead of throwing billions of dollars of public money at companies, the country plans to encourage big business to invest in startups to spur innovation.
A sharp move.
Photographer: Shoko Takayasu/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In the quest to lead global innovation, countries from the US to China are leaning on multibillion-dollar policies to bolster their industrial technologies, hoping the measures get them ahead in one way or another. Japan is taking a more deliberate path.
Instead of throwing large amounts of public money at companies outright, the country plans to encourage its industrial giants — long at the forefront of chips, cars, batteries and machines — to invest in startups and pique technological progress at home using not-so-glamorous tax reforms.