NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
TOKYO REGIONAL OFFICE

December 14, 1999

Report Memorandum #99-15

1999 SURVEY OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN JAPAN

-- Total R&D Expenditure Increased 2.5% --

This Memorandum is an update of NSF/Tokyo's previous Report Memoranda on the same subject (RM#96-26 of 12/9/96, RM#97-13 of 12/3/97, and RM#98-18 of 12/3/98). Information is based on data provided in a "summary report" released by the Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency of the Japanese Government on November 25, 1999. This "summary report" provides findings from the 1999 "Survey of Research and Development" (Kagakugijutsu Kenkyuu Chosa), a survey conducted every year as of April 1 to collect basic statistical information on funds expended for R&D during the preceding fiscal year by companies, universities and other organizations in Japan.

The 1999 survey covered R&D expenditures of approximately 16,600 organizations, including 12,400 private companies, 2,800 universities and 1,400 research institutes, for the Japanese fiscal year 1998 (April 1, 1998 - March 31, 1999).

This Report Memorandum, for ease of reference and comparison, follows the same format for statistical tables used in previous reports. Statistical data are provided both for (1) all areas covered by the survey (humanities, social sciences and natural sciences) and (2) "natural sciences" alone, whenever such data are available from the Statistics Bureau's original summary.

Whereas the Statistics Bureau has discontinued the past practice of conducting separate surveys on R&D expenditures in the life sciences and in energy-related R&D areas, those statistical tables that used to be provided as appendices to show separate data on them are no longer available.

A complete report of the 1999 survey findings will be published later by the Statistics Bureau, Management and Coordination Agency, probably in April 2000.

NSF/Tokyo: Yuriko Sera

A. The total R&D expenditure in Japan in JFY 1998 (April 1, 1998 - March 31, 1999) was 16,139.9 billion yen (including 14,824.5 billion yen in the natural sciences alone); an increase of 2.5% (nominal)* or 4.6% (real) from the preceding fiscal year [Tables 1 and 2].

This represents continued growth in total R&D expenditure for the last four years, following the decline for the two previous years (JFY 1993 and JFY 1994), although the rate of yearly increase (2.5%) was lower than the last year (4.4% in JFY 1997 over JFY 1996 level).

The total R&D expenditures in JFY 1998 accounted for 3.26% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), an increase from the previous fiscal year's level of 3.12% [Table 3].

(1) Regarding sources of funding for R&D expenditure, 21.7% of the total was disbursed by national and local governments and 78.0% by the non-government sector [Table 4]. Government R&D support increased 9.2% from the preceding fiscal year; as compared to an increase of 1.4% from JFY 1996 to JFY 1997. As regards this year's non-government funding, it also increased compared with the last year, although the rate of increase (0.8%) was much lower than previous years (4.9% from JFY 1996 to JFY 1997, and 7.2% from JFY l995 to JFY 1996.)

(2) Regarding R&D expenditures by type of performing organization, 66.9%, 13.1%, and 20.0% of the total was accounted for by private companies, research institutes, and universities, respectively [Table 5]. Private companies, research institutes and universities showed yearly increases of 1.3%, 4.6% and 5.4%, respectively, in the R&D expenditures.

(3) Regarding expenditure by type of research, 13.9% of the total was for basic research (as compared to 13.8% in JFY 1997), 24.6% for applied research (24.5% in JFY 1997), and 61.4% for development (61.7% in JFY 1997) [Table 6].

B. Starting with this survey, the Statistics Bureau has discontinued the practice of conducting separate surveys in the specific areas of energy-related R&D and life sciences R&D. As a result, some of the statistical tables which used to be compiled on the basis of data resulting from the separate surveys for the life sciences R&D and energy-related R&D, are no longer available.

To make up for this discrepancy, respondents in the main R&D survey are now asked to indicate R&D expenditure levels by R&D objective areas, not only for the four objective areas listed from before, but also for "life sciences" and "energy-related R&D." The table below shows a breakdown of the R&D expenditure data thus obtained.

C. The total number of regular researchers (persons who are mainly engaged in R&D activities within the organization) as of April 1, 1999 was 732,700, an increase of 4.0% over the 704,500 in the previous year. [Table 7]. Private companies and universities showed yearly increases of 6.2% and 1.3%, respectively, in the number of regular researchers employed, whereas research institutes showed a yearly decrease of 0.2%. The average research expenditure per investigator was 22,030,000 yen in JFY 1999; a decrease of 1.4% from the previous fiscal year's level of 22,340,000 yen. The "per capita" research expenditure increased 4.8% in research institutes and 4.1% in universities, but decreased in private companies (-4.6%). This is because yearly increase of number of regular researchers employed was bigger than that of R&D expenditures in private companies in JFY 1998.

D. The ratio of "payment" to "receipt" in international technology trade showed a decrease from 0.53 in JFY 1997 to 0.47 in JFY 1998, suggesting that Japan's "receipt" for technology exports continued to exceed her "payment" for technology imports since JFY 1994 [Table 8]. However, when limited to transactions newly initiated in JFY 1998, the ratio increased from 0.32 in JFY 1997 to 0.82 in JFY 1998.

The following tables summarize data provided by the Statistics Bureau:

1. Total Amount of R&D Expenditure

2. R&D Expenditure in Natural Science Areas Only*

3. Ratio of R&D Expenditure to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

4. Source of Funds for R&D Expenditure

5. Amount of R&D Expenditure by Type of Organizations

6. R&D Expenditure by Type of Research (in the limited areas of Natural Sciences only)*

7. Number of "Regular" Researchers (as of April 1, 1999)

8. International Technology Trade