The National
Science Foundation's Tokyo Regional Office periodically reports
on develop-ments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's
mission. It also provides occasional re-ports on developments
in other East Asian countries. These reports are intended to provide
information for the use of NSF program officers and policy makers;
they are not statements of NSF policy.
The Japanese Government's first Science and Technology Basic Plan was approved by the Cabinet on July 2, 1996, as the implementing document for the Science and Technology Basic Law, passed by the Diet in November 1995. (See Report Memorandum #96-21, dated August 28, 1996, and Report Memorandum #98-06, dated April 7, 1998). The Science and Technology Basic Law requires that two successive five-year basic plans be prepared and implemented by the Government. As background for preparation of the second basic plan, due to go into effect during JFY 2001 (April 1, 2001-March 31, 2002), the STA (Science and Technology Agency) Policy Committee conducted an interim evaluation of the first plan. The result of this review, entitled Follow-up of the Science and Technology Basic Plan: An Interim Summary, was released on April 22, 1999. The following translation of this document was prepared by Koichi Kitazawa, Professor of Advanced Materials Science at the University of Tokyo, and Yong Lee, Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. Professor Kitazawa served as Professor Lee's host while the latter was in Japan on a JSPS Senior Invitational Fellowship from January 15-March 15, 2000.
1. Introduction
As a means for STA to follow up on the Basic Plan of 1996, STA's Policy Committee has conducted hearings involving 150 scholars from various fields of specialization and examined the ongoing policy implementation of the Basic Plan with the cooperation of several related ministries. The results of this investigation are summarized below.
2. Result of the Hearings and Policy Evaluation
This is an interim assessment of the 1996 Basic Science & Technology Plan summarizing where various policy measures stand at this moment. The report summarizes the opinions of various members in the science policy community about the present state of the 1996 science & technology promotion measures and where we should go from here.
(a) Overall Effectiveness. There is a consensus that the 1996 Plan has contributed significantly to the strengthening of Japan's science and technology system as a whole. The science & technology (S&T) enterprise now appears to be placed firmly in a prominent position of public policy. Thus far, the government has invested a total sum of ¥13.3 trillion [~$120 billion] over the past three years, from 1996 to 1999. This funding appears to have energized the nation's research and development (R&D) enterprise, thereby increasing the total R&D activity.
(b) Further Efforts Still Needed to Attain the Policy Goals. While the 1996 Plan has made a significant contribution to the hiring of postdoctoral fellows (e.g., over 10,000) and other research personnel over a short period of time, the participants in the hearings insist that to secure a sufficient number of competent researchers and raise the overall quality of the nation's R&D enterprise, government must take additional specific action that addresses the quality issue. The present level of effortalbeit laudableis not enough; greater concentrated effort is still necessary to address the problems of over-aged buildings, old-fashioned instruments, limited space, poor information and communication infrastructures, and intellectual (human resources) infrastructure, including a necessary number of capable research personnel. The participants in the hearings praised the initial emphasis that the Basic Plan has placed on the need for research evaluation. But the evaluation plan has not been carried out satisfactorily. They went on to emphasize, once again, that policy decisions need to be made on the basis of results, keeping in mind that basic research does not always produce results in a short period of time.
(c) Identifying New Policy Issues
(i) Need to Set S&T Policy Priorities in Relation to Governmental and Social Imperatives, and the Promotion of Basic Science. The nation is still in a difficult economic condition, and it is faced with the continuing problems of smaller numbers of children in an aging society. To counteract these pressing issues strategically, the policy experts stressed that public policy should place a greater emphasis on research and development, technology transfer, and basic research through which to revitalize and strengthen economic competitiveness. They were critical of the fact that the goals and targets of S&T policy, which otherwise would have guided action strategically and intensively, have been largely absent in the Basic Plan. In the future it is important that we focus on the problems more strategically and intensively by setting S&T goals and targets clearly so that our efforts will be geared toward the larger problems of government needs and social imperatives.
It is important to stress that basic research underlies the broadest spectrum of the nation's intellectual activity ultimately contributing to the enlargement of intellectual property of the human kind. It is also important to stress that the results of basic research engender far-reaching frontiers of knowledge often leading to a completely new basis of technology. If Japan as a nation is to play an important and leading role in the development of knowledge in the unfolding 21st century, we must first become a knowledge-based society.
(ii) Rebuilding Japan's R&D Enterprise. The extant S&T Plan has been aimed at the development of a more competitive and mobile environment. The underlying assumption has been that this approach would create an environment in which researchers become more creative. Progress is slow, and additional efforts are in order, which emphasize the effective utilization of scarce R&D resources. In the future we must think more clearly of the nature of economic competitiveness in the global economy. Additionally, we must make every effort to improve the qualitative dimension of our research environment. Specifically, the issues to be addressed in the future are:
- Concerning research sites, we must increase the number of competent researchers and strengthen the functions of research support personnel, including software.
- In addition, it is important that we secure and retain world class scientific talent by providing our outstanding people with sustainable employment.
- While we recognize that the labor market is still stagnant, it is of utmost importance that we take bold actions to encourage the mobility of researchers.
- It is important that we maintain a balance among various research and development resources, including researchers, research funds, and buildings and facilities, and that we utilize these resources to their maximum capacity.
- In improving aged buildings and facilities, it is important to set priorities and keep in mind world standards.
- Policies must be formulated to help researchers, especially young researchers, to become more readily integrated into their research setting and make the best use of their talent and creativity in research.
These points represent the views that have been expressed most prominently in our evaluation during the past few years.
(iii) Need to Establish a Globally Compatible Evaluation System. The present evaluation system has been established in accordance with the 1997 General Guidelines. Experience shows that the evaluation system in operation is still not fully developed in a way to distribute resources based on evaluation. When evaluating researchers, the system still does not fully account for their research results. These problems are troubling, and greater efforts are needed to improve the evaluation system. Participants in the hearings stressed that we need to adopt an evaluation system compatible with the world standard, and that we must distribute resources in accordance with the results of evaluation keeping in mind the unique needs of each research institute and character of its research field.
(iv) Expectations for Administrative Reform. Following the adoption of the current S&T Plan, it was decided that many national research institutes would be restructured, that a General Council for Science and Technology would be established within the Cabinet, and that a new science and technology administration system would be organized. Expectations are high that this reform will help transform the entire R&D enterprise effectively.
(e) Other Concerns. Additionally, emphasis should be placed on a strong relationship between science & technology and society in the future. Effective policies should be found to deal with the problems of environment and food shortage in the global scale with which humanity will be faced in the 21st century. Attention also should be given to developing a close relationship between natural sciences and humanities and social sciences; applying scientific and technological resources to the revitalization of the local economy; increasing scientific literacy, as well as the expectations, of citizens. These are significant political issues that impinge upon our science and technology enterprise.
3. Future Considerations
The Policy Committee has examined various issues and attempted to clarify them in the course of its public hearings and on-going internal investigations. The committee believes that there are many issues that require immediate attention. These issues may be summarized in two broad categories of challenge, including:
a. How can we articulate and clarify national and social problems, thereby setting goals and targets for science and technology and operationalizing them concretely?
b. How can we raise the level of our basic research to world standards, thereby enlarging our intellectual property and at the same time enhancing our industrial competitiveness?
The future demands that we follow-up on these issues systematically.