NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

October 24, 2003

The National Science Foundation's Tokyo Regional Office periodically reports on developments in Japan that are related to the Foundation's mission.  It also provides occasional reports on developments in other East Asian countries.

Tokyo Office Report Memoranda are intended to provide information for the use of NSF program officers and policy makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.

 

Report Memorandum #03-10

 

The following report was prepared by Ms. Kazuko Shinohara of the National Science Foundation’s Tokyo Regional Office. She can be reached at kshinoha@nsf.gov

 

Rating of S&T-related Projects - JFY2004

The CSTP (Council for Science and Technology Policy) reviewed the S&T-related projects among the budget requests for JFY2004 made by all the Japanese ministries and agencies. The deadline for the budget requests was the end of August 2003 and CSTP made public their rating results on October 17, 2003. As in 2002, they gave a rating of S, A, B, or C as follows to each of the S&T-related projects.

S: Very important projects and to be implemented proactively
A: Important projects and to be implemented
B: Some problems to be solved and efficient and effective implementation is expected
C: To be reviewed

The differences from 2002 are:

The rating was made for those projects whose requested budgets were more than Yen 1 billion, whereas in 2002 it was made for those more than Yen 2 billion.

When CSTP made the rating results public, they also made public the project outlines, reasons for rating, and problems to be solved.

The rating results were as follows:

S: 32 projects (16%)
A: 91 projects (46%)
B: 59 projects (30%)
C: 16 projects ( 8%)
TOTAL: 198 projects

The following table is a quick translation of the projects, together with the information of rating, responsible government organizations, requested budgets for JFY2004, and the budgets in JFY2003.

One thing to be noted is that the reason that SARS was rated “C” is that the issue is dealt with in another MHLW’s project and launching a separate project was evaluated as duplicate.

The requested budgets will then be forwarded to the Ministry of Finance, together with the rating information, to have the final figures there at the end of December 2003.

Rating by CSTP - JFY2004 S&T-related Budget Requests

Blue-colored figures: Not all the budgets are used solely for the project.

 

JFY2004 Request

JFY2003 Budget

　Ministry

Yen Million

Yen　Million

BASIC SCIENCE

A

COE Program in the 21st Century

MEXT

41,746

33,383

A

Private University Education and Research (S&T portion only)

MEXT

176,164

169,917

A

High intensity proton accelerator (first phase)

MEXT

20,528

16,447

C

High intensity proton accelerator (part of the second phase)

MEXT

20,528

A

Joint use of Spring-8

MEXT

12,471

11,242

A

ALMA

MEXT

1,081

0

LIFE SCIENCE

A

Tailor-made medical care

MEXT

2,650

2,152

A

Human genome/genetic treatment

MHLW

2,118

2,118

A

Regenerative medical treatment

MEXT

1,300

1,300

A

Human genome/regenerative medicare

MHLW

1,167

993

S

Genome network

MEXT

8,000

0

A

Protein 3000

MEXT

9,856

9,512

A

Disease-related protein analyses

MHLW

3,500

500

B

Mental health

MHLW

1,993

1,898

B

Food allergy

MHLW

30

0

A

Advancement of food safety

MHLW

1,772

1,477

A

Food safety and functions

MAFF

2,007

828

A

Physical function analyses/aid and replacement tools

MHLW

700

700

B

Pharmaceutical/medical equipment regulatory science

MHLW

1,692

1,409

S

National Bio Resource Project

MEXT

1,672

4,000

A

Clinical application of basic research

MHLW

2,800

1,750

B

Toxicogenomics

MHLW

1,272

1,271

B

Immune allergy prevention/treatment

MHLW

1,194

1,137

S

Cancer translational research (clinical)

MEXT

2,500

0

A

Translational research program (clinical)

MEXT

2,845

2,845

B

Highly advanced analyses technology development (clinical)

MEXT

2,845

2,845

B

Human sciences including pharmaceuticals

MHLW

2,576

2,576

C

Environment-friendly next-generation agricultural production system

MAFF

1,009

0

B

Cultivation/distribution/processing technologies of new species

MAFF

1,587

1,184

C

Secondary metabolic products

MAFF

1,587

0

S

Rice genome: important characteristics-related genes

MAFF

723

723

B

Rice genome: comparison between species

MAFF

122

122

B

Rice genome: rice genome simulator

MAFF

321

321

A

Rice genome: DNA marker

MAFF

474

474

A

Rice genome: gene isolation/function analyses

MAFF

748

748

A

Rice genome: rice genome resource center

MAFF

87

87

A

Rice genome: sequencing all base pairs

MAFF

723

723

B

Agro-bio commercialization/industrialization

MAFF

4,580

0

S

Third strategy for cancer

MHLW

5,020

4,183

A

Cancer research subsidies

MHLW

1,850

1,850

C

MHLW special scientific research

MHLW

17,562

2,013

B

Cardiovascular disease

MHLW

1,533

1,298

A

Medical technology

MHLW

2,002

1,668

A

AIDS

MHLW

4,439

3,861

C

SARS

MHLW

22

0

B

Disease-model animals

MHLW

24

0

B

Illegal pharmaceuticals and health damage by legal pharmaceuticals

MHLW

26

0

B

Administrative policy research

MHLW

1,006

892

B

Longevity research

MHLW

2,249

2,230

B

Disease beyond medical treatment

MHLW

2,407

2,322

B

Children and environment

MHLW

1,288

1,255

B

Health science

MHLW

1,319

1,256

NA

Human Frontier Science Program

MEXT/METI

2415/1418

2415/1418

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

　

A

Ubiquitous network

MPMHAPT

3,450

2,498

S

Digital tag: advanced application technology

MPMHAPT

700

0

S

Digital tag: diffusion

METI

3,500

0

B

Optical radio and optical fiber

MPMHAPT

50

0

A

Shift to Internet IPv6 (internet protocol version 6)

MPMHAPT

2,003

2,003

B

IP phone in mobile environment

MPMHAPT

80

0

A

IT in medical field

METI

1,962

0

A

Electric resource development

METI

880

0

A

Advanced network

MPMHAPT

1,300

0

B

Mobile filtering technology

MPMHAPT

125

0

A

Illegal access prevention

METI

1,000

0

B

E-science project

MEXT

4,508

1,505

A

E-society software

MEXT

1,202

1,202

A

Digital archive of intelligent assets

MEXT

1,007

0

S

Software engineering by industry-university collaboration

METI

2,750

0

A

Voice translation system

MPMHAPT

950

530

S

Network Robotics

MPMHAPT

950

0

A

Robotics in construction

MLIT

159

159

B

National research grid initiative

MEXT

3,202

2,002

A

Business grid computing

METI

2,801

2,797

C

Advanced computing for simulation

MEXT

2,000

0

B

Network technology by use of nanotechnology

MPMHAPT

330

0

A

EUV light source

MEXT

1,200

1,200

B

IT program

MEXT

4,508

3,005

C

Transportation service information system

MLIT

101

0

ENVIRONMENT

A

Dangers generated by new technologies

MPMHAPT

214

0

B

Green house effect gas

MEXT

202

0

B

Save-energy-type chemical technologies

METI

1,331

0

S

Co2 isolation technologies

METI

350

0

B

International projects on global environment

METI

1,474

1,209

A

Next-generation environment-friendly car

MLIT

1,497

1,495

A

Biomass fuel cell car

MLIT

150

0

S

Next-generation super eco-ship

MLIT

707

326

B

Regulations on ship's effect on the environment

MLIT

88

0

C

Environment-friendly buildings

MLIT

580

0

A

Co-existence of human beings/nature/globe

MEXT

3,678

3,678

A

Antarctic observation activities

MEXT

11,419

3,480

A

Comprehensive processing/recycling of ordinary/industrial waste and biomass

MEXT

500

450

B

Bio-recycle

MAFF

3,012

800

B

Water quality and resources

MAFF

135

0

A

Advanced building maintenance system

METI

100

0

A

Nature-friendly land infrastructure

MLIT

323

323

B

Urban space heat environment

MLIT

460

0

B

Chemical substances in ecosystem

MEXT

311

0

A

Food and Pharmaceuticals: chemical substance risk

MHLW

2,253

2,049

A

Chemical substance risk management

METI

50

0

B

Environment hormone risk evaluation/international projects

ME

2,002

1,288

A

Environmental technologies using nanotechnology

ME

400

300

A

Water management to cope with global water circulation

MLIT

104

104

NANOTECHNOLOGY

A

Artificial organs/sensors using nanotechnology

MEXT

80

152

C

Digital device that senses organism information

MEXT

329

152

A

Cell: devices that fit organisms

MEXT

361

0

S

Nanomedicine

MHLW

2,140

1,203

A

Comprehensive nanotechnology project

MEXT

2,950

2,908

A

Commercialization of nano-measuring/processing technologies

MEXT

2,000

0

S

Deterioration of facilities which house dangers

MPMHAPT

115

0

ENERGY

A

High-temperature engineering test research

MEXT

3,899

3,264

A

JT-60 operation

MEXT

2,700

2,854

S

ITER

MEXT

8,588

550

B

Accelerator "Joyo"

MEXT

3,304

3,585

S

Fast-breeder reactor "Monju"

MEXT

10,984

12,243

A

FBR cycle

MEXT

3,478

3,429

B

Tokai re-processing facilities

MEXT

5,587

5,375

A

High-level radioactive waste disposal

MEXT

8,558

8,076

B

Plutonium fuel manufacturing facilities

MEXT

4,369

4,252

B

Safety research

MEXT

5,191

5,107

C

Nuclear fuel cycle system

MEXT

1,758

1,273

B

Innovative nuclear reactor

MEXT

3,854

2,821

C

New-type reactor "Fugen"

MEXT

7,551

5,517

C

Uranium enriching technology

MEXT

2,188

2,265

A

Centrifugal uranium enriching business promotion

METI

1,464

1,382

A

Full core MOX fuel reactor facilities

NETI

2,500

1,601

B

Innovative commercial-use reactor technology

METI

2,652

2,299

A

Strata processing technology

METI

3,584

3,567

A

IGCC (Integrated Coal Gastification Combined Cycle) plant

METI

5,004

1,613

C

Electric power generation system

METI

390

0

S

Commercialization of highly-efficient gas turbine

METI

385

0

B

Environment-friendly fuel conversion technology

METI

3,400

3,135

B

DME fuel-used technology development

METI

1,497

1,497

A

Methane hydrate development

METI

7,002

5,500

B

Next-generation environment for oil fuel

METI

1,650

3,086

B

Advanced technologies including oil refining

METI

3,553

2,615

B

Comprehensive/advanced/environment-friendly technologies for oil refining

METI

5,891