The Role of Large Enterprises in Museum Digitization

Abstract

By actively promoting museum digitalization, Japan finds an idiosyncratic way to museum digitalization. The mode of collaboration, in which the government plays a leading role while large enterprises’ R&D capabilities and museum’s cultural dynamics are both allowed to give full play, turns these powerful enterprises into the solid backing of museum digitalization, provides a concrete solution to the common financial and technical challenges museums face in the process. In the course of such collaboration, large enterprises succeed in cultivating a number of talents who understand both business world and museum operation. Thanks to their experiences in the business world, compared with museum professionals, they play a more vital role in marketing the potential commercial exploitation of related digital technologies. The benefits large enterprises could possibly gain from such mode of collaboration - realizing social values, enhancing corporate image, for instance - help to motivate their active involvement, thereby forming a positive cycle of sustainable development.