加强日本农村创新

Enhancing Rural Innovation inJapan OECD Rural Studies Enhancing Rural Innovationin Japan This work was approved and declassified by the Regional Development Policy Committee on 06/12/2024. This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty overany territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area. The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use ofsuch data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements inthe West Bank under the terms of international law. ISBN 978-92-64-80115-8 (print)ISBN 978-92-64-43798-2 (PDF)ISBN 978-92-64-54490-1 (HTML) OECD Rural StudiesISSN 2707-3416 (print)ISSN 2707-3424 (online) Photo credits:Cover © SeanPavonePhoto/Getty Images Plus. Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/support/corrigenda.html.© OECD 2025 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. By using this work, you accept to be bound by the terms of this licence(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Attribution– you must cite the work.Translations– you must cite the original work, identify changes to the original and add the following text:In the event of any discrepancy between the original work and thetranslation, only the text of the original work should be considered valid.Adaptations– you must cite the original work and add the following text:This is an adaptation of an original work by the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed inthis adaptation should not be reported as representing the official views of the OECD or of its Member countries.Third-party material– the licence does not apply to third-party material in the work. If using such material, you are responsible for obtaining permission from the third party and forany claims of infringement.You must not use the OECD logo, visual identity or cover image without express permission or suggest the OECD endorses your use of the work.Any dispute arising under this licence shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) Arbitration Rules 2012. The seat of arbitration shallbe Paris (France). The number of arbitrators shall be one. Foreword With a population of 125 million, Japan is one of the most populous OECD countries. Yet unlike most ofits peers, Japan’spopulationisshrinking.Between2000to 2021, theaverage population across Japan’s47 TL3 regions declined by0.32%per year, or by0.05% when weighted by population size. In contrast,TL3 regiones grew on average by0.45%per year.Japan’s decline has been especially acute in non-metropolitan regions: thoseclose to mid-sized citieslost 0.64% annually and those close to small cities0.61%.By contrastnon-metropolitan regionsin otherOECD countriesexperienced growth overall duringthe same period:0.36%in regions close to mid-sized cities and 0.38% in regions close to small cities.Nevertheless, some countries also demonstrated shrinking trends in non-metropolitan regions. Forexample, Hungary, Germany, Portugal and Poland all observed a decline in non-metropolitan regions closeto mid-sized cities, while population also declined in non-metropolitan regions close to small cities incountries like Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Germany and Poland. In addition to shrinking, rural places also face the challenge of an ageing workforce. Rural areashave alower average share of younger workers (15-34 yearsold) and a higher share of older workers (45-64yearsold) than urban areas.The number ofolder workers as a share of the working age labour force,hasalso increasedin rural areasin Japan, from 49% in 2010to 53% in 2020. In this context,the Japanesegovernmentisdevelopingstrategies for economic development and service provision in non-metropolitanregions to address current and future demographic challenges. Innovationadoptioncan provide one solution to address labour and skills shortages in regions withdeclining and ageing populations. The generation of new ways of delivering public services can also helpaddress challenges in providing service delivery, in particular through locally led solutions.In this respect,Japan has a relative advantage as it is one of the most innovative OECD countries in high-tech innovation.The solution could, therefore, in part, focus on the diffusion and adoption of these innovations to ruralareas. However, currently, innovation is densely concentrated in metropolitan regions, and entrepreneurs(the drivers of firm-based innovation) are starting firms at lower rates. As such, firm-based innovation,which has the possibility of responding to labour and skills shortages, may be falling short. Furthermore,this is only part of the solution,as