R&D Program: Science of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy
Area Director
Akira Morita
Professor, Faculty of Law,
Gakushuin University
Today Japan is experiencing a population decline as well as the aging of its society with the decrease in the birthrate. Moreover, fiscal conditions are tight. In this context, Japan will be able to continue to achieve steady development in the future only if it pursues innovation through the advancement of science and technology. However, in recent years?and especially since the Great East Japan Earthquake?science and technology as well as its researchers have been viewed harshly. Critics say that, despite the vast amount of funds invested in R&D, the outcomes are not helping to resolve the challenges that society faces.
Indeed, in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy to date, problems have been encountered not infrequently. Sometimes R&D investment has been made without adequate objective evidence. Other times, although great insights have been gained through basic research, the research outcomes have not been applied in an effective fashion so that they lead to innovations or the creation of systems to resolve challenges and advance society. Yet other times, outstanding policy ideas have been conceived, but they have not been implemented due to insufficient communication with the public. The root cause of this was the absence of clear, evidence-based methods to create STI policy.
To remedy this situation, our program aims to develop methods to formulate the following kinds of policies;
- Policies that will lead to the resolution of real challenges by advancing the basic research and applying the research outcomes to the challenges and
- Policies that will promote the innovation of society by drawing on basic research.
In this endeavor, it will be critical
- To design a multistage process from basic research, to social application of outcomes, to evaluation of that application;
- To develop methods for measuring the economic and social impact of R&D investment;
- To build an effective research framework to form policies based on objective evidence; and
- To ensure proper communication among policy makers, the scientific community and the public in order to promote the application of research findings in society.
This program is diverse in content and is expected to produce more concrete proposals. We look forward to seeing outstanding proposals with flexible thinking that deserves 窶 Science of STI policy窶 .
Objective of the Program
To contribute over the medium to long term to evidence-based policy formation in the area of STI through the following approaches;
- Promoting R&D projects on new analytic methodologies, models, data-systematization tools and aggregate indicators that can be used in actual policy,
- Increasing the number of researchers who work on this challenge in a wide range of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields, and expanding the community network through public relations and dialogue on the activities.
Targeted R&D Projects
This program targets R&D on methodologies and indicators in the four categories below (including projects that address them in a multidisciplinary or comprehensive way)
Outcomes of R&D projects will be sought that can be used in forming actual policies of the national and local governments or in making policy proposals of various actors.
- Designing and implementing of a strategic framework for forming overall STI policy;
- Measuring the social and economic impact of R&D investment and making it visible to the public
- Assessing and designing optimal system (organization, framework, etc) for promoting STI policy, and the impact of the system on the STI process; and
- Designing and implementing dialogue to promote the participation of members of society in STI policy formulation
R&D Research Projects
FY2011
- Development of Methods for Impact Assessment of Electric Power Innovation and R&D Network Evaluation(3 yrs.)
Taro AKIYAMA [Director, Center for Economic Growth Strategy Professor, Faculty of Economics, Yokohama National University] - Scientometrics Conducive to Management of Funding Programs (3 yrs.)
Masashi SHIRABE [Associate Professor, Graduate School of Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology] - Methodology Development for Visualization and Quantification of Social Expectation to Science Technology (3 yrs.)
Masatoshi TAMAMURA [Associate Professor, Faculty of Policy Management, Keio University] - Research on Scientific Sources of Innovations and Economic Impacts of Science (3 yrs.)
Sadao NAGAOKA [Professor, Institute of Innovation Research, Hitotsubashi University] - Integrating Joint Fact-Finding into Policy-Making Processes (IJFF) (3 yrs.)
Masahiro MATSUURA [The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Public Policy] - Study of Innovation Strategies Conducive to Creating Future Industries (3 yrs.)
Eiichi YAMAGUCHI [Professor, Graduate School of Policy and Management, Doshisha University]
International Forum 窶賂rand Challenges for Innovating Policy-Forming Process ~The Initiative for Development of 窶彜cience of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy窶
JST/RISTEX co-organized the international forum 'Grand Challenges for Innovating Policy-Forming Process ~The Initiative for Development of "Science of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy" with MEXT, NISTEP and JST/CRDS at MEXT Lecture hall on June 22, 2011.
Forum Report
