Shinichi Furuzawa

Food and Health-Related Industry Clustering in Niigata Prefecture

This study aims to clarify empirically the policy issues for regional innovation focusing on the “health-related industry cluster” in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. More specifically, it clarifies the situation of the “health-related industry cluster” and the impacts of spatiality of knowledge flow on the regional innovation system based on an interview survey of the intermediate organizations and a questionnaire investigation targeting the members of the cluster. Additionally, it identifies the relationship between inter-firm cognitive distance and innovation creation based on the analysis of annual security reports of three leading companies in the cluster using text mining method. Finally, it draws policy implications for the strategy of regional innovation based on the analytical results and points out the tasks for future research.