World News

2021年10月05日

STI Policy News from Japan - September 2-30, 2021

SciREX Center

This page is for STI policy news from Japan for September 2-30, 2021 picked up by the SciREX Center. News from other countries is being collected by the Center for R&D Strategies (CRDS) to be posted later.

Government S&T Budget Request for JFY2022
https://sci-news.co.jp/topics/5306/

Japanese ministries and agencies submitted their budget requests for the Japanese Fiscal Year (JFY) 2022 (April 2022-March 2023) to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) at the end of August (annual budget request submission deadline). Of the total amount, the Science and Technology budget request was Yen 4,470.4 billion, an increase of Yen 329 billion (7.9%) from the previous year. The budget requested by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) that takes about two-thirds of the total Japanese S&T budget was Yen 2, 391.3 billion. The ministries and agencies will negotiate with MOF from September until almost-final figures are decided at the end of December 2021.

Two New Goals for the Moonshot Program
Moonshot R&D｜Applications｜Announcing Call for Proposals for New Moonshot Goals|MILLENNIA Program (jst.go.jp)

The Moonshot Program (Moonshot R&D｜TOP (jst.go.jp)) that is to challenge high-risk, high-impact R&D to achieve ambitious Moonshot Goals and solve issues facing future society will have two new goals. The program, established in 2019, currently has 7 goals (free from limitations of body, brain, space, and time, ultra-early disease prediction, AI robots that can autonomously learn, adapt and evolve, global environment, sustainable food supply, quantum computer, and sustainable care systems to overcome major diseases). The two new goals to be added this time are "Mitigation of extreme weather-caused damage" and "Mental happiness." Details will be worked and made public.

Time spent on Internet exceeded that on TV first time in history
https://www.soumu.go.jp/menu_news/s-news/01iicp01_02000098.html

The collaborative research between the Ministry of Communication (MIC)'s Institute for Information and Communications Policy、(IICP）and Dr. Yoshiaki Hashimoto of Tokyo Women's Christian University revealed that people spend more time on Internet than TV these days. It is based on an inquiry made to 1,500 people aged between 13 and 69 from January 12-18, 2021. This was the 9^th survey of its kind and first time to have the result of longer time on Internet than TV.