Efforts toward the Joint Research of "Innovation in Services"

January 25 (Wednesday) 2006

Recently, FRI has set a new organizational course for jointly researching the possibilities of "innovation in services". Though the concept of "innovation in services" is still in its preliminary stages and has yet to be sufficiently defined, economic societies around the globe-and industrialized nations in particular-are jumping onboard and riding the growing wave toward service economy. Within this rapidly growing trend, the question of "What will be the evolution of services?" has become the subject of intrinsic and systematic inquiry.

First, the gravity of economic activities in industrialized and mature economies is shifting increasingly toward services. However, by what principles and through which mechanisms will service evolve? In order to grasp the future of our economic society, the investigation of these questions holds tremendous import.

Second, a vast store of literature has been accrued concerning technical innovation and raising productivity in the manufacturing industry, and most questions regarding such needs have been unraveled. Research into the determining factors, mechanisms, and processes of the service industry, on the other hand, is still comparatively limited worldwide, and remains a vast frontier for future inquiry.

Third, service in our modern society is entwined intimately with information. Questions of whether or not increased efficiency in information processing is linked with improved productivity, and whether or not such developments can inspire new creation, are tremendously important topics for research within a scientific framework. To put it differently, whether or not improved quantitative efficiency in information processing can generate qualitative innovation is a question deserving of academic investigation.

In this way, the crucial issue of "innovation in services" has become an important organizational theme for our research here at FRI. Through the cooperation of various researchers, FRI aims to pursue constant, fundamental research and database creation, to construct hypotheses, and to continuously pose questions to the global community. In so doing, we hope to use our combined faculties as a research organization to zero in on the essence of service innovation and explore how economic policy and business strategy can harness it.

As a research project, FRI's inquiry into "innovation in services" is still in its opening phases, but in several months to a year we expect to accrue a certain degree of intermediate knowledge. As this insight comes to light, I look forward to documenting our progress on this website.