Role of doctoral scientists in corporate R&D in laser diode research in Japan

With the advancement of technology and increase in its complexity, the use of external information and resources provides companies with an important competitive advantage. In addition, the university-industry relationship has received attention with increases in the importance of science. Exploring papers on laser diodes published in Applied Physics Letters and patents from 1960 to 2000, this study analyses the roles of corporate scientists with doctoral degrees in laser diode technology. The study focuses on the different roles played by two types of doctoral scientists: university-based and industry-based. It explores both direct and indirect contributions of doctoral corporate scientists to R&D by examining their papers and patents. The results indicate that both types achieved a higher average number of papers and patents than non-doctoral scientists. Exploring the co-authors of doctoral scientists to determine the indirect effect of doctoral scientists on corporate R&D, this study observes that the co-authors of industry-based doctoral corporate scientists published more papers or filed more patents. This study confirms that industry-based doctoral corporate scientists play an important role in promoting corporate R&D by linking corporate R&D with university research.