This paper systematically reviews the experiences and lessons from Japan’s regional revitalization practices across three distinct periods. It identifies key characteristics of Japan’s IUR collaborative innovation system at three levels: legal breakthroughs, policy innovations, and governance transformations. Drawing on open innovation theory, the study categorizes the resulting innovation platforms into three types: government-led, regionally embedded, and market-driven. Based on this analysis, implications are derived for deepening IUR collaboration within China’s regional economic revitalization efforts. These include that restructuring the institutional core by establishing a framework for service invention rights reform and a regional innovation compatibility assessment mechanism; reshaping structural resilience through legislation ensuring SME participation in R&D projects and the creation of technology adaptation centers; rebuilding ecological ethics by incorporating traditional culture preservation metrics into evaluation systems and establishing innovation insurance funds.