Intellectual Property Strategy: Infrastructure Development and Overseas Expansion

　Content Policy of the Intellectual Property Division. Digitization and networking (infrastructure) and Cool Japan (overseas expansion) as the two pillars of advancement. 

1 Digitization and Networking 
  Digitization and networking is in full swing for the 20th year, expanding business opportunities.
   Over the past decade in particular, more attention has been placed into content, and with the amendment of the Copyright Act, various policies have been adopted in response to digitization. However, despite the explosive increase in content use and information production, expansion of the content industry appears to be shrinking. In addition, with new media innovations in recent years such as multi-screen, cloud networks, social services, digitization and networking has entered a new stage.  
  Within this context, the Japanese content industry is also not winning in the global competition in platforms. The country has been late in the production and use of content in fields such as schools and government. 
  In order to continue the development of new industry and culture in response to worldwide digitization and networking, it has become necessary to go beyond structural conflicts between users and right-holders, hard and soft, and create comprehensive institutional designs and new fields. 
  This means executing strategies by promoting content as the driving force of the Japanese economy and culture. It is hence important to prioritize such policies. 

２ Cool Japan
  It has been 10 years that the phrase ‘Cool Japan’ is used. 
Contemporary Japanese culture has won the hearts from people around the world under the ‘Cool Japan’ concept. This is not only limited to manga, anime, games, but is also expanding to fashion, food, traditional crafts, and tourism. In addition, attention has generally been focused on industrial design, service level, family-run businesses, lifestyle and other economic or cultural fields. 
 It is part of the government’s mission to connect this soft power with economic growth. As a method, outbound approaches such as strengthening of information dissemination in media and events are important. In addition, putting in people and technology into the breeding reactor of industry culture in Japan is also another method.   
  Although efforts have been placed by both government and the private sector to come up with policies which cross competitive industrial fields such as content and fashion, the results are in full-swing only from now. It will be important to show these results.