March 9, 2023
Japan Fair Trade Commission
The Japan Fair Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the “JFTC”) today launched the "Study Group on Innovation and Competition Policy" (hereinafter referred to as the “Study Group”), consisting of relevant experts in order to discuss innovation and competition policy.
1. Objectives
(1) Achieving innovation that leads to the creation of new services and new markets is essential for Japan's sustained economic growth. In addition, there are concerns that the development of the digital economy and the shift to platforms and ecosystems for business will make markets further monopolized, oligopolized or even entrenched, which could reduce the dynamism of competition. Under such an economic circumstance, ensuring a market environment that can promote innovation is an important and contemporary policy agenda in competition policy.
(2) The impacts of corporate behavior on innovation are complex and dynamic, and it is important for competition policy to properly evaluate the impacts on the long-term competitive environment, where innovations may be brought in the future. Therefore, in order to attain a deeper understanding and knowledge of the actual situation, the JFTC today launched the Study Group, hosted by the Director General of the Economic Affairs Bureau of the JFTC, to theoretically and systematically explore the mechanisms by which business conducts affect innovation, based on the expertise in economics and relevant disciplines.
2. Schedule and other notes
(1) The Study Group is composed of the experts listed in the Appendix.
(2) The meeting will be held approximately once a month. (The first meeting was held today at 10:00 a.m.)
(3) While the Study Group is in principle closed to the public in order not to prevent free and vigorous discussion among the members, the summary of the discussion (in Japanese) will be in public promptly after the Study Group is held.
(4) Administrative affairs of the Study Group are handled by the Planning Office of General Affairs Division, Economic Affairs Bureau, General Secretariat, the JFTC.
Appendix
List of the members of the Study Group on Innovation and Competition Policy
UETAKE Kosuke Associate Professor of Marketing, Yale School of Management
OHYAMA Atsushi Professor, School of Business Administration, Hitotsubashi University
Professor, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University
[Chair]OKADA Yosuke Professor, Graduate School of Economics, Hitotsubashi University
FUKUNAGA Keita Director, AlixPartners Asia, LLC.
MATSUSHIMA Noriaki Professor, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Osaka University
MIYAI Masaaki Professor, College of Law, Ritsumeikan University
[In the order of the Japanese syllabary, as of March 9, 2023]
(Observers)
IKEDA Tsuyoshi Founding Partner, Attorney at Law, IKEDA&SOMEYA
TAKIZAWA Sayako Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics, the University of Tokyo
MATSUDA Serina Partner, Attorney at Law, Abe, Ikubo & Katayama
[In the order of the Japanese syllabary, as of March 9, 2023]
