ABSTRACT
Since the early eighties, the Japanese central government has created several programmes of regional and innovation policies aiming to achieve regional and national goals. Most of these programmes focus on new and/or high technologies. Since the ‘fourth comprehensive national development plan’ (which is still effective) was passed into law in 1987, a greater emphasis on information-and new-media-related regional policies has had an impact which cannot be ignored (see National Land Agency 1987). The most ambitious technology policy programme was named ‘technopolis’.
