Railway Engineers of the Japanese Empire and the Significance of Collaborative R&D Activities

Abstract

Lushun Institute of Technology (LIT) and South Manchuria Technical College (SMTC) played a great role in supplying engineers for colonial government railways in Taiwan and Korea, South Manchuria Railway (SMR), and rolling stock and locomotive companies in Dalian and Seoul. Dependent on educational organizations, such as LIT and SMTC with regard to the supply of engineers, railways within the Japanese empire were organized into an ellipse with JNR and SMR at its apex. The collaborative research activities demonstrated in the case of Conference on Rolling Stock between users and designated manufacturers able to produce high-quality products was one aspect of the “efficient” R&D adopted by a latecomer to industrialization—i.e., Imperial Japan. However, in this method of selecting qualified manufacturers, the state—the largest buyer—determined which manufacturers were candidates for optional contracts. For non-member firms excluded from collaborative research, this was the closed system of R&D activities.