NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

April 13, 2004

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 #04-04 (April 13, 2004)

2003 Survey on Research and Development in Japan:
Slight Increase in Expenditures from the Previous Year

In March 2004 the Statistics Bureau of Japan’s Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) published a report on research and development (R&D) in Japan based on the survey conducted starting on March 31, 2003. (See http://www.nsftokyo.org/rm03-05.html for their report for 2002.) The following is a summary translation of the survey results and was prepared by Ms. Kazuko Shinohara of the National Science Foundation’s Tokyo Regional Office. She can be reached at kshinoha@nsf.gov

Organizations the questionnaire was sent to and return ratio

Industry
About 13,000 companies which have more than Yen 10 million (ca. $95,000) in capital and involved in R&D activities, including a small number of independent administrative organizations and special corporations, were sent the questionnaire: Return ratio was about 82 percent.

Non-profit organizations
About 1,500 national, public, and non-profit research organizations were also queried: Return ratio was about 99 percent.

Universities
About 3,000 universities and inter-university research institutions, and technical colleges: Return ratio was 100 percent.

Date/Period of the statistical data
The number of researchers: As of March 31, 2003
Research expenditures: One year retroactive from the most recent account closing date before March 31, 2003

SUMMARY of the Survey Results

1. R&D Expenditures

The total R&D expenditures for JFY2002 in Japan were Yen 16,675.1 billion (ca. $158 billion), a 0.9 percent increase from the previous year.

Table-1

Of the above amount, the R&D expenditures for natural sciences were Yen 15,343.6 billion (ca. $146), a 1.7 percent increase from the previous year.

Table-2

The ratio of R&D expenditures against GDP was 3.35 percent, an increase by 0.05 percent from the previous year. This rate was the highest in history.

Table-3

The breakdown of R&D expenditures by performing organizations was: Yen 11,577 billion (ca. $108 billion) by companies, 69.4 percent of the total expenditures; Yen 1,815.9 billion (ca. $17 billion) by non-profit research institutions, 10.9 percent; and Yen 3,282.3 billion (ca. 31 billion) by universities, 19.7 percent.

Table-4
(Unit: Billion Yen)

The sources of the R&D expenditures were Yen 13, 162.7 billion (ca. $125 billion) from private sector, 78.9 percent of the total expenditure and an increase from the previous year by 1.4 percent, and Yen 3,452.7 billion (ca. $33 billion) from the central and local governments and non-profit organizations, 20.7 percent of the total expenditure and a decrease from the previous year by 0.7 percent.

Table-5
(Unit: Yen Billion)

Breakdown of R&D expenditures for natural sciences by basic research, applied research, and developmental research is Yen 2, 298.9 billion (ca. $22 billion) (15 percent), Yen 3,503.2 billion (ca. $33 billion) (22.8 percent), and Yen 9,541.5 billion (ca. $91 billion) (62.2 percent), respectively. Basic research and developmental research expenditures increased by 4.3 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively; applied research expenditures declined by 0.6 percent.

Table-6
(Unit: Yen Billion)

If the R&D expenditures are viewed by specific purpose, Yen 2,069.9 billion (ca. 19.7 billion) (12.4 percent) was spent for Life Science, Yen 2,255.1 billion (ca. $21 billion) (13.5 percent) for Information Technology, Yen 679.9 billion (ca. $6.5 billion) (4.1 percent) for Environment, Yen 321.7 billion (ca. $3 billion) (1.9 percent) for Materials, Yen 88.3 billion (ca. $0.8 billion) (0.5 percent) for Nanotechnology, Yen 800.8 billion (ca. $7.6 billion) (4.8 percent) for Energy, Yen 268.0 billion (ca. $2.5 billion) (1.6 percent) for Space Development, and Yen 96.4 billion (ca. $0.9 billion) (0.6 percent) for Ocean Development. The expenditures for Nanotechnology field showed the highest increase by 17.3 percent, followed by 16.8 percent for Materials field and 9.3 percent for Space Development field.

2. R&D Personnel

The number of personnel involved in R&D as of March 31, 2003 was 968,100, a decrease by 0.5 percent from the previous year and the fourth consecutive annual decrease. If it is viewed by the type of work, the number of researchers was 757,300 (0.1 percent increase from the previous year), the number of research assistants was 67,000 (2.5 percent decease from the previous year), technicians 65,100 (3 percent decrease from the previous year), and research administrators or other research-related workers 78,600 (2.1 percent decrease from the previous year).

If the number of R&D personnel is viewed by gender, 702,600 were male and 88,700 were female.

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