New Focus for Japan's S&T Spending
2000; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1930-0166
Autores Tópico(s)Asian Industrial and Economic Development
ResumoThe Japanese government is taking a bigger and more closely focused role in science and technology research to meet concerns sparked by a series of high-profile accidents. In the clearest sign of the Administration's intentions, public spending on S&T crept over the Y 1 trillion mark for the first time in the latest budget, which passed the Diet early in March. The Y 1.0 183 trillion (US $9.7 billion) S&T outlays were a rise of 6.8 percent over 1999, far steeper than the 2.2-percent increase in overall government spending. The late Prime Minister, Keizo Obuchi, underlined the importance of publicly-funded research in his opening speech to the Diet, when he spoke of the need to build a nation founded on creativity, science and technology. Although the government struck a similar pose as far back as 1995, when it made a legal pledge to double S&T spending between fiscal 1992 and 2000, the trend has been given fresh momentum by a number of new developments. First, the Administration has been forced to take action to stem the crisis of confidence that has been brought on by the country's worst nuclear accident: the uncontrolled chain reaction at a uranium processing plant in Tokai last September, which killed one worker and exposed more than 400 others to radiation. Other recent setbacks have included successive failures of rocket launches, a fatal subway train accident and increasing signs that tunnels in the country's much-vaunted bullet-train network are deteriorating. With the economy still mired in recession and an election imminent, it also makes political sense to raise public spending on S&T. If nothing else, it takes some of the sting out of the oft-heard criticism that the government squanders taxpayer money on pork-barrel construction and agriculture projects designed only for the ruling party's core supporters. The Much of the new spending-about X120 billion-will be on eight items grouped under the Millennium Project umbrella. Obuchi established the in 1999 at the urging of the Competitiveness Council, a group of private and public sector experts who drew up a blueprint for Japan to regain what was seen as its diminishing industrial clout. The council was particularly scathing of the country's S&T set-up, saying that ministries were excessively territorial about their research, failed to take a long-term stance, and that regulations stood in the way of cooperation between universities and companies on S&T projects. Similar criticisms were echoed late last year by Keidanren, the nation's most influential business group. The aims to address these concerns by giving leadership of public-sector S&T to the Prime Minister's office rather than individual ministries, which tended to duplicate research. Turning regular bureaucratic procedure on its head, the project's budget is categorized as special spending, which means that funds are channeled through the Prime Minister's office rather than the finance ministry. According to Takeo Shiraishi, a senior coordinator for the project, this is a whole new way of doing things that accelerates decision making and improves intra-government coordination. This is the first time in Japan that a government body has both picked projects and disbursed funds to them, he said. When we looked at the various ministries' plans for genome research, for example, we saw that the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Science and Technology Agency were all planning to carry out very similar projects. It was ridiculous so we rejected the lot, drew up our own plan and allocated roles to each of them. Seeking Results in 3-5 Years As well as bringing together ministries, the Project-which focuses on information technology, the environment and measures to counter Japan's rapidly aging population-aims to set clear mid-term goals. …
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