国家视角日本之旅

CountryJapan’sJourney UnlockingIP-backedFinancingSeriesCountry PerspectivesJapan’s Journey Table of contentsDisclaimerAcronymsJapan’s journeyIntroductionTypes and sources of IP financePromoting IP awarenessRegulations and evaluation approaches affecting IP usePotential for development of IP finance and challengesCase studiesCase study 1:Chukyo BankCase study 2:Kanagawa Shinkin BankCase study 3:Kiraboshi BankCase study 4:Hiroshima BankCase study 5:Nagano-Ken Shinkumi BankEndnotes 4566710141720202223242526 4DisclaimerThe views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do notnecessarily represent those of WIPO. The Japan Patent Office programs and projects,including the IP business evaluation reports, mentioned in this publication are basedon information available as of February 2022. AcronymsINPITNational Center for Industrial Property Information and TrainingIPIntellectual propertyIPRsIntellectual property rightsJ-PlatPatJapan Platform for Patent InformationJPOJapan Patent OfficeM&AMergers and acquisitionsR&DResearch and developmentSMEsSmall and medium-sized enterprises 6IntroductionIn Japan, the development, use and management of intangible assets, notably know-how and intellectual property (IP), are becoming increasingly important in businessstrategies, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which form thebackbone of economies worldwide. SMEs may account for more than half of globalemployment, but many lack access to a key requirement for their further developmentand growth – funding. For many SMEs, traditional avenues for financing their growthstrategies are blocked because they lack “hard” assets, such as real estate, thatcorporate lenders or investors may demand as security or collateral for financing. Forbusinesses whose value lies in what they invent and create, new options are emergingto break through this financing barrier and achieve the backing they need to flourish.By leveraging their IP, including patents, industrial designs, trademarks and otherintangible assets, firms can unlock funding.In Japan, all assets that are critical to a business are evaluated to explore their capacityto support access to financing. There are schemes and government initiatives,including those of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and theJapan Patent Office (JPO), to promote IP-backed financing. Although such financingmethods are yet to become mainstream, efforts to promote them have yielded manypositive results.This report highlights projects and frameworks initiated in Japan in recent years tofacilitate IP-backed financing. One example is the JPO’s IP Finance Promotion Project.It focuses on strengthening the capacity of regional financial institutions to raiseawareness among SMEs of the importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) asthey develop and grow. JPO's IP finance promotion project introduced IP businessevaluation reports. These reports are not monetary valuations of IPRs, but ratherqualitative evaluations conducted by third parties to deepen a lender’s understandingof a borrower’s business and its potential for development. The reports facilitate clearcommunication between borrowers and lenders and serve as a foundation on whichto further build business strategies.In 2021, the Tokyo Stock Exchange issued a revision of the country’s CorporateGovernance Code,1which introduced a provision on the role and responsibilitiesof company boards in developing policies for IP investment. That was a milestonein Japan, where corporate understanding of the importance of IP continues to lag.Banks and other lending institutions have also worked to improve their knowledgeof companies’ IP assets. For example, they are using the JPO’s IP business evaluationreports and patent databases to better understand how IP can help to open upbusiness opportunities.Despite the development of JPO financing frameworks since the 1990s, when IP-backedfinance was mainly provided to SMEs, including venture companies, the growth of IPfinance in Japan has remained limited. A number of government-led initiatives were putin place and discussions on IP financing took place. In the private sector, companiesJapan’s journey increasingly started to recognize the importance of valuing intangible assets in their accountsand they have done so even without stock market regulation or laws such as the Companies Act.Such voluntary management reporting of intangible assets led to the formulation by the Ministryof the Economy, Trade and Industry of its intellectual asset-based management reporting systemin the early 2000s. The aim of that system was to capture a company’s IP assets and ensure thatthey are managed in such a way as to promote corporate growth. However, the 2008 globalfinancial crisis curtailed progress in Japan in the area of IP finance, including financing backedby intangible assets, and slowed the adoption by Japanese companies of management reportingsystems for intangible assets.S