NTT's R&D: A platform for multimedia

This paper describes cooperative research and development (R&D) activities in the I&CT (information and communications technology) industry in Japan historically, and also brings out the features of NTT's R&D capital as a national asset and its technological trajectory. In addition, the impacts of the telecommunications reform in Japan on R&D activities in the I&CT sector are examined, and the perspective of the cooperative R&D initiated by NTT with vendors, in the era of new multimedia is discussed, The author argues that NTT is required to be a platform for every participant in cooperative R&D, in achievement of economies of scale, scope and speed in R&D activities. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.