| Shuji Nakamura |
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At that point all of the work was finished and I didn't have anything to do in late 1999. After that, this being Japan, my job was reduced to checking and stamping documents. As I was the acting general manager, I did a lot of document stamping - it was my only job. I felt I would go senile if I carried on like that, and wanted to resign. At that time I had offers from American universities, which I started to think about seriously and ended up deciding to go to America. For similar reasons, I think that Mr. Kouichi Tanaka will resign from the company soon. If not, I don't think that one can make progress as a person. Hanko (signature seal) stamping is not workc
In consequence I decided to go to America. I had offers from about 10 Universities. Firstly I had an offer from UCLA, but finally I decided that UCSB (University of California, Santa Barbara) was the best for me considering the living environment, my specialist research field, and so on. As soon as I transferred to America, though it's not my intention to badmouth my former company, the company began to say that the University and I were suspected of leaking trade secrets. Actually we were sued over this in December 2000. The suit was an accusation of the leaking of trade secrets. I blew a fuse when I found out about the action, and one year later I sued my former company over the ownership of patent 404 and compensation for the patent. Concerning the trade secrets suit, on October 10 this year I won the part that was filed in the United States. That was hard, I can tell you! Though I go off on a tangent, I want to say that if you resign from your company and transfer to another position with a venture business, then there is a strong possibility that you too will be sued over leakage of trade secrets. In fact, even if a person in their 40s or 50s resigned and transferred to a University, he would be sued. If a person started a venture and made research in a similar field to his previous company, he would definitely be sued. Under these circumstances, it would be almost impossible for me to establish my own venture company. Therefore a new system, where young undergraduates, and other young people like Dr. Amano, can start venture business easily, must be created. In Japan now there is no such system - I hope that situation is remedied. I think various systems are bad in Japan.
The research theme which I am doing in America is, of course, using GaN - similar to what Professor Amano talked about, it is the so-called 'brighter LED.' Moreover I am managing the Solid-state Lighting Center, and there the research is aiming to produce bright white light of such an intensity that it can replace normal fluorescent tubes. Though the efficiency of the white LED is about twice that of incandescent bulbs, it is still is less half that of fluorescent tubes. So in order to replace all fluorescent tubes with white LEDs, it is necessary to increase the light emitting efficiency more. I am putting all my effort into this. If it could be attained, all of the light sources could be changed to new white LEDs.
As was mentioned earlier, GaN transistors are anticipated. In America research in electronic devices of GaN is flourishing, and the US military is investing a great deal of money in the research of high power and high frequency devices - the budgets are quite huge. The military research grants given to corporations and universities are of the order of approximately 0.5 to 1 billion yen per year. Nowadays in Japan, I hear that the government isn't giving much money for research into GaN and I wonder if Japan will fall behind. There is, of course, a reason that there is military demand for the research of GaN. For example if devices are made from GaN, it can be possible to get very tough devices. On the outside of the space station, which is now under construction using the space shuttle, transistors made from GaN have been simply placed in the open and are test-working. This is not possible with silicon transistors, nor with GaAs transistors - only GaN gives this performance. By using GaN, very tough transistors are possible. Such kinds of tough testing are being done because the military needs very high reliability devices.
Another important theme, which is the same as Professor Amano's theme, is the research of ultra violet light emitting devices. This device can be used as a countermeasure against bio-terror. Within a few months of the World Trade Centre attack, the military was asking for the development of bio-terror countermeasures. One example is a sensor for detecting anthrax bacteria. For detecting such kinds of anthrax bacteria, it is essential to use ultra violet light emitting devices. If we search for ultra violet light emitting devices, presently GaN-based material is the main one. Because of that, I am now making a great effort on this theme.
As you can see, I am currently working on various themes. By the way, as I am a professor of an American university, I employ about ten students. The American doctoral program students are quite different from Japanese students. Though I don't know what the present students are like in Japan, but the American students are quite different from the Japanese students of my student days. The doctoral program students are particularly excellent. Basically, none of them are thinking of joining big companies. They are working on their research with the intention of either joining a venture company or establishing their own venture company after they graduate from university. Moreover they excel in their specialties. In Japan, all the students intend to enter big companies.
As I say frequently, Japanese students have no confidence in their own capability. Since they are children, they must study for the preparations for the university entrance examination. Though they may have their own dreams at primary school age, after that they are forced to study only for the preparation for the university entrance examination. Entering university itself becomes their dream, and so the moment they enter university their dreams are over. While at university they enjoy campus life. When they graduate university, they have no confidence in their ability and so they tend to want to join stable, big enterprises or to become public employees. As a result they become lifetime salary men, as you know well. As I say often, if we join a big enterprise, we are forever 'salarymen' no matter how much effort we put in. Even if one becomes a general manager or department manager, it is no big deal. Accordingly, I think a new system should be developed, such that, like America, graduate students can establish venture companies and achieve the 'American Dream.'
The reason why I mention the above is that in actual fact the future gap between Japan and the rest of the world in terms of Science and Technology is set to widen more and more. Up until now, Japan has concentrated on manufacturing products, but nowadays manufacturing faces hard competition with China and so on. That's what I was saying before - the system which Japan has established is a manufacturing oriented system. In the system all the students went through the difficult entrance examinations and as a result similar, average people - just like robots - were educated and supplied to the big enterprises as 'salarymen' to contribute to manufacturingc always manufacturing. However I think this kind of approach is very serious when I look at a situation with China and the like. And so the government earnestly urges us to make an effort to produce creative products or to start up ventures. However, if the fundamental systems, such as the university entrance examination, are not made so that the young people's way of thinking changes, I think that, whatever the government, does nothing will ever change.
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