Building STP’s Ecosystem: Kitakyushu Approach - Technopolis: Best Practices for Science and Technology Cities - page 399

Table 4 Brief history of Tsukuba Science City
1961-1969 1970-1977 1978-1987

1961—Cabinet decided to
examine concrete measures
for collective transfer of
government offices

1970—A law for construction
of Tsukube Science City
was promulgated

1980—All of the 43 research
and educational institutions
were started operations A
construction plan for the
Research and development
district was decided by the
National land agency

1963—Cabinet approved
selecting the Tsukuba area
as the site of a new science
city

1972—The National Research
Institute in Inorganic
Materials was transfer red
to the city

1981—A arrangement plan for
the surrounding urban
district was decided by
lbaraki Prefecture

1964—Cabinet decided to start
construction from 1965 and
to complete it within about
10 year

1973—The University of
Tsukuba was founded

1982—The construction of
Tokodai research park is
completed

1968—The construction of
large-sized experimental
equipment for an
earthquake engineering
investigations laboratory
attached to the National
Research Center for
Disaster Prevention was
started. It was first
institution to be built in the
city

1975—Cabinet decided to
postpone the target date for
completing the transfer of
designated institution to
the city until the end of
1979 fiscal year

1985—The Joban Highway
directly connected to Tokyo
Tsukuba Expo was opened

1969—Cabinet decided to
complete the transfer of the
institution which were
expected to move to the
city, within about 10 years
from 1968

1977—The Tsukuba Science
City Associated was
started

1987—Tsukuba city officially
formed by merger of
existing towns and villages
Tsukuba Linked to Tokyo
Joban Highway Bus

Source Author based on the information from the website of MLIT ( http://www.mlit.go.jp )

2.3 Policy Synthesis: Cluster Projects

The purpose of science city and technopolis development in Japan was to erect
major incubators of original technologies under keen international competitions,
not only in the dominant metropolitan areas but also in the frontier areas of Japan.
However, the development lacked the synchronism, synergism and synthesis of
related policy, planning and practice within the same region for making the
integration of R&D, production and technology learning at region level, and the
user-producer and subcontractor network linkages. This situation, moreover, was
not so much changed for a long time until the 1990s in spite of some strategic trials