Growth of Corporate Patents in Japan’s Electrical Industry: Analyzing Asymmetric Influences on Economic Growth, 1899–1941

Abstract Corporate patents have had a significant influence on economic growth. This study analyzes Japanese corporate patents in the electrical sector, from a microscopic, business-history perspective, to clarify the implications of their growth for technology transfer, technological development, the organization of patent management, the formation of a national system of innovation, and the growth of individual inventors. An analysis of the inventors behind corporate patents revealed that international technology transfer and R&D policies underpin an increase in corporate patents. Japanese companies partnering with foreign companies actively combined technology introduction with technological development, making significant contributions to the industry’s technological progress. Companies without foreign partnerships expanded their organized R&D under indirect stimuli within the broader industry-wide technology introduction and R&D movement. The expansion of corporate patents also strengthened the link between technology introduction and development in major firms through the formation of patent departments within each company. This further influences the formation of a national innovation system centered on large corporations and the promotion of R&D across the entire electrical machinery industry. Furthermore, increasing the specifications of foreign companies’ and foreign-affiliated Japanese companies’ patents provided a much greater opportunity with independent inventors.