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Initiated by a speech by the Japanese Prime Minister in 2002, an improved strategy for the creation, protection and use of intellectual property in the Japanese economy has rapidly evolved. The author outlines the major elements and achievements of the new strategy under five categories: (1) Creativity and inventiveness (e.g. facilitating technology transfer from universities to the private sector). (2)Protection (e.g. trilateral sharing of search and examination results, speedier examination, and the establishment of an IP high court). (3) Exploitation (e.g. widening the range of organisations allowed to assist SMEs). (4) Contents (mainly aspects of IP in the movie industry). (5) Cultivating human resources (e.g. increased emphasis on IP education in universities). Future work, in phase 2 through to 2009, in making Japan an ‘IP Rich Country’, will concentrate on building on these changes to integrate IP more fully into business growth. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]