Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Published in:
Defining the Problem: Solutions Based on Innovative Answers to Social Problems Read chapter Read first chapter

2020 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

3. Case Study: Managing Technology Development

Case Study 1: The Sunshine ProjectSunshine Project from the Perspective of Project ManagementProject management

Author : Minoru Shimamoto

Published in: National Project Management

Publisher: Springer Singapore

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

In 1973, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) selected solar energy research as the development theme for the Large-Scale Project System. The decision by MITI to adopt this theme was based on the importance of new energy technologies. This decision was the first step in setting up the Sunshine Project.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe




 

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
previous chapter What is the Sunshine Project: Overview of the Project
next chapter From the Rational Model to the Natural System Model: Changing Perspectives I
Footnotes
1
Sawai Minoru and Tsūshō Sangyō Seisakushi Hensan Iinkai [Editorial Committee on the History of Japan’s Trade and Industry Policy] (2011, p. 246).
 
2
As explained in Chap. 1, industrial technology policy in this context refers to technology policy at MITI, which aimed for industry application. The term is specifically used to set it apart from science and technology policy at the Science and Technology Agency.
 
3
Kikkawa (2008, p. 22).
 
4
MITI Editorial Committee on the History of Japan’s Trade and Industry Policy (1991, pp. 126, 184).
 
5
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee (2007, p. 82).
 
6
Sawai Minoru and Tsūshō sangyō seisakushi hensan iinkai (2011, p. 246).
 
7
Sawai Minoru and Tsūshō sangyō seisakushi hensan iinkai (2011, p. 246).
 
8
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee (2007, p. 80).
 
9
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Kenkyū kaihatsukan shitsu (1987, p. 51).
 
10
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu [MITI AIST Sunshine Project Promotion Office] (1980). Frontispiece, construction site photographs, and conceptual drawings.
 
11
Meadows et al. (1972).
 
12
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Kenkyū kaihatsukan shitsu (1973).
 
13
Asahi Shimbun, August 23, 1973.
 
14
Kishida Fumitake, “Kiki o norikoete [Overcoming the Crisis],” in Shōgen daiichiji sekiyu kiki: Kiki wa sairaisuruka? [Testimony from the First Oil Crisis: Will There be Another Crisis?], ed. Denki Shimbun (Tokyo: Nihon Denki Kyōkai Shimbunbu [The Newspaper Division of the Japan Electric Association], 1991), p. 138.
 
15
The Nikkei/Nihon Keizai Shimbun, October 16, 1973.
 
16
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1974, p. 3).
 
17
The report starts with a grand statement: “Energy is the source of activities in human society. Energy is indispensable for improving the quality of life and developing industrial activity. The ceaseless development of human society has been built together with a constant increase in energy consumption since Prometheus brought fire.” (Sangyō gijutsu shingikai, “Shin’enerugī gijutsu kaihatsu no susumekata ni tsuite,” in Shin’enerugī gijutsu kenkyū kaihatsu keikaku (Sanshain keikaku), ed. MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin (Tokyo: Nihon Sangyō Gijutsu Shinkō Kyōkai, 1974), p. 372.
 
18
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu [MITI AIST, Sunshine Project Promotion Office] (1984, p. 12).
 
19
The Nikkei/Nihon Keizai Shimbun, January 25, 1974.
 
20
Imai (1982).
 
21
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1980). Frontispiece, construction site photographs, and conceptual drawings.
 
22
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee (2007, p. 81).
 
23
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee (2007, p. 82).
 
24
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee (2007, p. 83).
 
25
The description below references MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1984).
 
26
The specifics of the evaluation are summarized below. As a result of comparing the outcomes of vertical pull and horizontal pull for ribbon crystal, the vertical method was transitioned to implementation research because of its exceptional performance in terms of width, thickness, and control, while the horizontal method was discontinued. The verdict was that the Toshiba method was superior. At first, NEC worked on research and development of thin-film polycrystalline, but the method did not deliver the expected results. However, the researchers realized that the method of casting silicon substrates that they had developed for the research theme could be used for low-cost solar cells. Therefore, together with ribbon crystal, the method of using slices of polycrystalline silicon ingots for solar cells was advanced to the implementation research stage instead of thin-film polycrystalline. Meanwhile, junction formation using the ion implantation method developed at Hitachi was advanced to the implementation research stages as dry PN junction formation method due to its high-speed and regulatory properties. Since the junction and anti-reflection co-firing technology based on the coating method developed by Sharp combined with the electrode penetration firing technology made it possible to shorten the number of processes, it was advanced to implementation research in the guise of the wet PN junction formation method. MITI also continued the applied research of modules at Sharp and the Group II–VI compound semiconductors at Matsushita (MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1984, pp. 70–72).
 
27
Asahide (later renamed Hinodemachi), and other place names in the vicinity of the Sunshine 60 building were originally associated with the sun.
 
28
Current program content has grown substantially from (1) developing and promoting new energy/energy conservation, and (2) coal mining structural adjustment programs at the time when NEDO was established to include (3) alcohol production (from 1987), (4) industrial technology research and development (from 1990), and (5) coal mine damage compensation (from 1996).
The legal basis for the semi-governmental corporation are found in (1) Act on the Promotion of Development and Introduction of Alternative Energy (Act No. 71 of 1980), (2) Act on the Rational Use of Energy (Act No. 49 of 1979), (3) Act on Special Measures for the Promotion of New Energy Use, etc. (Act No. 37 of 1997), (4) Act on the Improvement of Research and Development Systems for Industrial Technology (Act No. 33 of 1988), (5) Act on the Promotion of Research, Development and Dissemination of Social Welfare Equipment (Act No. 38 of 1993), (6) Act on Temporary Measures Concerning the Structural Adjustment of the Coal Mining Industry (Act No. 156 of 1955), (7) Act on Temporary Measures concerning the Compensation, etc. for Coal Mine Damage (Act No. 97 of 1963), (8) Temporary Act on Coal Damage Recovery (Act No. 295 of 1952), and (9) Alcohol Sales Act (Act No. 32 of 1937).
 
29
Photovoltaic Power Generation Technology Research Association, PVTEC (1996, pp. 111–113). Strictly speaking, the ETL researchers were also affiliated with MITI, but unless it presents a problem, we consider researchers at national research institutes to be employees of a separate organization than ministry staff because they were expected to fulfill substantially different functions.
 
30
NEDO News, March 1983, p. 9.
 
31
NEDO News, March 1988, p. 9.
 
32
Regional Economy pages, The Nikkei/Nihon Keizai Shimbun, August 21, 1982.
 
33
Regional Economy pages, The Nikkei/Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July 23, 1983.
 
34
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1984, p. 73), Ishizaka and Hirono (1985, p. 41).
 
35
Remarks by Ashihara Yoshishige, NEDO News, October 1981, p. 7.
 
36
NEDO (1990, p. 19).
 
37
The following refers to Kikuchi (1982, pp. 10–15).
 
38
NEDO News, October 1981, p. 11.
 
39
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1984, p. 103).
 
40
Tanaka Kazunobu, interview by author, October 15, 1998 and Kuwano Yukinori, interview by author, October 29, 1998.
 
41
Please see Fig. 2.​11 in for fluctuations in crude oil prices.
 
42
NEDO News, October 1981, pp. 4–15.
 
43
Konno Kunisuke, interview by author, March 11, 1998.
 
44
At first, Hitachi had no success with the running tests, but Nebashi Masato, the Deputy Director-General of Technology, lost his temper, summoned the Executive Vice President of Hitachi and ordered him “to get it to work properly”. The response from Hitachi was to complain of a budget shortfall, but Nebashi would have none of it. Recalling this episode, Tani Tatsuo, who was in charge of solar thermal power generation, commented “it was extremely clear what the corporation had to do with the budget it received” (Tani Tatsuo, interview by author, July 9, 1998).
 
45
MITI Editorial Committee on the History of Japan’s Trade and Industry Policy (1991, p. 256).
 
46
MITI (1993, p. 48).
 
47
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu (1985, 1986).
 
48
See NEDO (1990, pp. 148–157) for the changes in the budget for project cost.
 
49
Ishikawa Fujio, interview by author, June 4, 1998.
 
50
Commissioned research into compound-semiconductor solar cells ended as of fiscal year 1981.
 
51
The Nikkei/Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July 4, 1990.
 
52
Shigen enerugīchō (1995, p. 11).
 
53
Shigen enerugīchō (1995, p. 43).
 
54
Taiyōkō Hatsuden Gijutsu Kenkyū Kumiai [Photovoltaic Power Generation Technology Research Association] (1998, p. 47), Kuwano (1992, p. 210).
 
55
Watanabe (2001).
 
56
Kurokawa Kōsuke, interview by author, April 20, 1998.
 
57
Murozono Mikio, interview by author, September 11, 1998.
 
58
Saito Tadashi, interview by author, September 7, 1998.
 
Literature
Ishizaka S., & Hirono, T. (Eds.). (1985). Nijūisseiki eno enerugī: gijutsu ga hiraku shin enerugī [Energy for the 21st century: New energy developed by technologies] (p. 69). Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
Imai, K. (1982). Shin’enerugī Kaihatsu no senryaku to soshikiron. Institute of Business Research, Hitotsubashi University, Discussion Paper no. 103.
Kikkawa, T. (2008). Nihon no genshiryoku hatsuden: Sono rekishi to kadai. Hitotsubashi Review of Commerce and Management, 3(1).
Kikuchi, M. (Ed.). (1982). Amorufasu handōtai no kiso [The basics of amorphous semiconductor]. Tokyo: Ohmsha.
Kuwano, Y. (1992). Taiyō denchi o tsukaikonasu: Taiyō denchi ga hiraku shinjidai [Using solar cells efficiently: A new era of solar cells will unfold]. Tokyo: Kodansha.
Kyocera Corporation Solar Energy Division. (Ed.). (1994). Taiyō enerugī eno chōsen: Taiyō denchi no jidai ga yattekita [A challenge to solar energy: The era of solar cells began]. Tokyo: Seibunsha.
Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W., III. (1972). The limits to growth: A report for the club of Rome’s project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books.
MITI. (Ed.). (1993). Nyū sanshain keikaku handobukku [The handbook of new sunshine project]. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
MITI. (Eds.). (1973). Nihon no enerugī mondai. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
MITI Editorial Committee on the History of Japan’s Trade and Industry Policy. (Ed.). (1991). History of Japan’s trade and industry policy, vol. 13, (IV) the age of diversification (1971–1979) Part 2. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Kenkyū kaihatsukan shitsu. (1973, July). Atarashii kurīn enerugī gijutsu no kaihatsu keikaku: Sanshain keikaku. Self-pub.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu. (Ed.). (1974). Sanshain keikaku: Shin’enerugī gijutsu eno chōsen [The sunshine project: A challenge for new energy technologies]. Tokyo: Daiichi Hōki Shuppan.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu [MITI AIST Sunshine Project Promotion Office] (Ed.). (1980). Kagayakeru taiyō enerugī: Sanshain Keikaku – taiyō enerugī kenkyū kaihatsu no genjō (rev. edn.). Tokyo: Ōkurashō Insatsukyoku.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu. (Ed.). (1984). Sanshain keikaku jūnen no ayumi [Ten year history of the sunshine project]. Tokyo: Sanshain keikaku jusshūnen kinen jigyō suisin konwakai [Sunshine Project 10th Anniversary Commemorative Projects Promotion Committee].
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu. (1985). Showa gojūkyū-nendo seika hōkokusho taiyōhatsuden no kachi hyōka ni kansuru chōsa kenkyū [FY1984 Annual Report]. Self-pub.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Sanshain keikaku suishin honbu. (1986). Shōwa rokujū nendo seika hōkokusho taiyōhatsuden no kachi hyōka ni kansuru chōsa kenkyū (2) [FY1985 Annual Report]. Self-pub.
MITI Kōgyō gijutsuin Kenkyū kaihatsukan shitsu (Ed.). (1987). Ōgata Purojekuto nijūnen no ayumi: Wagakuni sangyō gijutsu no ishizue o kizuku [The course taken by large projects in the last 20 years: Laying foundations for industrial technologies in Japan. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
MITI Shigen ererugīchō. (Eds.). (1993). Enerugī seisaku no ayumi to shinten. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
NEDO BOOKS Editorial Committee. (Ed.). (2007). Naze nihon ga taiyōkō hatsuden de sekaiichi ni naretanoka [Why Japan was able to become the world number one at photovoltaic power generation]. Kawasaki: Shin’enerugī Sangyō Gijutsu Sōgō Kaihatsu Kikō.
NEDO. (Ed.) (1990). NEDO jūnen no ayumi [Ten year history of NEDO]. Tokyo: NEDO.
PVTEC. (1996). PVTEC gonen no ayumi [Five year history of PVTEC]. Tokyo: PVTEC.
Sawai, M., & Tsūshō sangyō seisakushi hensan iinkai [Editorial Committee on the History of Japan’s Trade and Industry Policy] (Eds.). (2011). Tsūshōsangyō seisakushi 1980–2000 [History of Japan’s trade and industry policy 1980–2000] (vol. 9) Industrial Technology Policy. Tokyo: Keizai Sangyō Chōsakai.
Sharp. (1996). Taiyō denchi no sekai kaiteiban [The world of solar cells revised edition]. Self-pub.
Shigen enerugīchō. (Ed.). (1995). Shin enerugī binran heisei shichi-nendo ban. Tokyo: Tsūshō Sangyō Chōsakai.
Shigen ererugīchō. (2011). FY2010 annual report on energy (Energy White Paper 2011). Tokyo: Nikkei Printing.
Taiyōkō Hatsuden Gijutsu Kenkyū Kumiai [Photovoltaic Power Generation Technology Research Association]. (Ed.). (1998). Taiyōkō hatsuden: Sono hatten to tenbō [Solar power generation: Its development and prospects]. Tokyo: Art Studio 76.
Watanabe, C. (Ed.). (2001). Gijutsu kakushin no keiryō bunseki: Kenkyū kaihatsu no seisansei shūekisei no bunseki to hyōka [Numerical analysis of technological innovation]. Tokyo: Nikka Giren Shuppansha.
Metadata
Title
Case Study: Managing Technology Development
Author
Minoru Shimamoto
Copyright Year
2020
Publisher
Springer Singapore
Book
National Project Management

Print ISBN: 978-981-15-3179-8

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-15-3180-4

Copyright Year: 2020

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3180-4_3