Diversity and Culture in Knowledge Creation:The Story of the Tower Of

［第17回ACEI 国際大会特集講演記録］ Diversity and Culture in Knowledge Creation: The Story of the Tower of Babel Revisited* Masahisa Fujita** Thank you very much for kind introduction. Ni men hao. First, concerning the globalization of the world economy An-nyeong ha-shim-ni-kka. Good morning ladies and gen- in terms of production and trade of traditional goods and ser- tlemen. I am very honored and pleased with this great op- vices, everyone would agree that the lower the transport portunity to speak at this 17th conference of Association for costs the greater the effi ciency, meaning that paradise for the Cultural Economics International in Kyoto today. It is my traditional economy would be a world with zero transport understanding that this is the fi rst ACEI conference in Asia. costs. Next, concerning the development of Brain Power So- My presentation is entitled Diversity and Culture in Knowl- ciety, can we say that for the production and transfer of edge Creation: the Story of the Tower of Babel Revisited. In knowledge broadly defi ned, the lower the communication speaking about the importance of culture and diversity in barriers the better the outcome? In other words, is paradise knowledge creation and sustainable development of human for Brain Power Society a world of effortless communica- society, I believe there would be no better place in Japan than tion with no communication barriers? Kyoto. Indeed Kyoto is one of the best examples of cities where innovation and sustainable development has been It is true that multiple languages, distance or space erect achieved over 12 hundred years, absorbing diverse culture barriers for communication, as illustrated in the recent mov- initially from India, China and Korea and later from Euro- ie, Lost in Translation by director Sofi a Coppola. On the pean countries and from America, while developing its own other hand, exactly because of barriers for communications unique and rich culture. But about Kyoto I will talk later. due to multiple languages, distance and space, each region can develop its own local culture and the knowledge. So if Now let me open the Power Point. My presentation today the diversity is important in knowledge creation for human is concerned about the development of so called Brain Pow- society in the long run, then the net effect of the existence of er Society since the late 20th century. As we know, recently such communication barriers on the long run development of the revolutionary development in information communica- knowledge for the entire world could be positive. tion technology and transport technology has been promot- ing on one hand the so called globalization of world econo- In this respect, fi rst, let me explain why the diversity and my in trade and investment, and on the other hand, the culture are important for Brain Power Society. Needless to development of the so called brain power society where the say, the fundamental resources in the Brain Power Society creation of new knowledge or innovation has been becoming are individual brain power, your brains or knowledge in your the major activity of most countries and regions throughout brain. But exactly the same brains do not yield any synergy. the world. Together it has been bringing out the major reor- So the important thing is the diversity in people’s brain in ganization of global economic･political･social systems. society, which creates the synergy in innovation. Likewise, in the context of interregional and international cooperation * Keynote lecture delivered at the 17th International Conference of the for innovation, it is the diversity in culture that creates syn- Association for Cultural Economics International, Kyoto, June 23, ergy in innovation activity. 2012. ** President and Chief Research Offi cer of Research Institute of Econ- Therefore in the cooperative process of knowledge cre- omy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) ; Professor of Konan University; and Adjunct Professor of Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto ation, the key factor is the diversity of people in their knowl- University edge composition. Let me elaborate on this point. Let us take 9 文化経済学第 9 巻第 2 号（通算第33 号） two persons, i and j, and let’s assume that the ellipse in the heterogeneous knowledge workers, there is a fundamental ing the God. God became angry and confounded their lan- nese society or not? left hand side represents the composition of the knowledge antimony. In the short run, through close communications guage by introducing many different languages, and scattered of person i, and the right hand side ellipse represents knowl- synergy will increase and they will become very productive them upon the face of all the earth with each region speaking Next, let me present some soft evidences about impor- edge composition of person j. If two knowledge composi- in the knowledge creation. But if the same people keep coop- a different language. In this way, the united humanity was tance of the diversity for creativity. The fi rst soft evi- tions have no overlapping, meaning no common knowledge, erating in the knowledge creation, in the long run common expelled from the paradise of effortless communication, dence is the interesting article by Yoko Towada, an inter- then communication is not possible. So they cannot cooper- knowledge will relatively expand while heterogeneity will leading to the multilingual, multiregional world. Now my nationally renowned writer, that I recently read in the ate. On the other hand, if two ellipses completely overlap, diminish. Eventually, synergy will also decrease and produc- question today is, was it really a punishment, or blessing in JAL Skyward, a free magazine of JAL group. She was there is no need for cooperation. Therefore the cooperative tivity will eventually diminish. So our question is how to disguise? born in Tokyo but also lived in Germany for 26 years, process of knowledge creation, the balance of three compo- resolve this fundamental problem? We might be able to get writing both in Japanese and German. So half the life in nents, namely, common knowledge and differential knowl- a hint from the Story of the Tower of Babel. In investigating this question, let me pose a related ques- Tokyo and half the life in Germany. She won the Akuta- edge of each other are essential. By fusing the differential tion. We have been witnessing a great revolution in the de- gawa prize and Tanigaki prize in Japan but also the Less- knowledge of two persons through the common knowledge, By the way in the top, I made mention of the “nominica- velopment of ICT (information communication technology) ing prize and the Goethe Medal in Germany. In this ar- eventually wonderful new ideas will come out. tion” in Japan. What does it mean? Let us recall that in 1980s recently. My question is, does ICT really enhance knowledge ticle, there is a series of interesting questions and answers Japan was still growing rather fast like China today. And that productivity? When thinking about this problem, we must but let me just take 2 questions and answers. The fi rst same 1980s, I was teaching in the Wharton School at the differentiate the transfer of knowledge and information from question is: what about the Japanese tradition? The an- University of Pennsylvania. The question at that time in the the creation of information and knowledge. The develop- swer is: Japanese tradition was of course familiar to me Wharton School was what would be the secret behind the ment of ICT, without doubt, greatly enhanced the transfer but seemed too close in terms of space and time. While I Japanese great success. One answer was, it would be the speed of knowledge and information. On the other hand, was in Japan nothing evolved from it, neither curiosity “nominication” in Japan. For example in Tokyo, after offi ce each person has a limitation in absorbing new information nor desire. The next question is: aren’t you sometimes workers working together, they do not go home immediate- and knowledge. But, we receive so much information, every afraid of losing Japan? The answer is: No. on the con- ly; they go to, for example, drinking place, and keep drink- day through newspapers, mass media and internet, resulting trary while I was living in Japan, I never thought much ing wine or Japanese sake and talking, communicating for in the so called information explosion. So naturally we about own culture since it was there. For example the long evening. In that way, they developed intimate relation- have the mass media and the search engine that will con- Noh theatre became important to me only here in Eu- ship for knowledge exchange. When Japan was in the pro- dense very big amount of information to a very small amount rope. It’s the difference between the two cultures that This idea of creating new ideas through the encounter of cess of catching up to the US and European economies, I of information or knowledge. For example, each person will makes me productive, not the Japanese culture as such. heterogeneous people and culture, is well known since a believe, nominication or learning by drinking contributed to actually see only the top 3 or 4 items of search engine, re- Incidentally, I went the fi rst time to the United States for long time ago. For example, in China there is an old saying, Japanese success. But because of the real success based on sulting in the expansion of the common knowledge. So it is studying at University of Pennsylvania in 1968. And I “San ge chou pi jiang dig e zhu ge liang”. In Japanese we say nominication, in the early 1990s Japan became one of the not obvious whether the development of ICT will advance or came back to Japan after staying in Philadelphia for four “San nin yoreba monju no chie”.

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