The FY 2024 budget request for science and technology government-wide is 5,488.9 billion yen, an overall increase of 701.7 billion yen (14.7%) from the previous fiscal year. Of this amount, 909.3 billion yen is earmarked as a key policy promotion quota (with this new budgetary means, ministries and agencies can request up to three times the reduced amount if they cut 10% of specific spending).
The actual amount requested is, however, larger than the above number because it does not include certain itemized requests without specifying the amount requested, and others. The science and technology budget includes promotional expenditures, such as research expenses, and expenses related to grants for national universities, corporations, and private schools, as well as experiments that introduce new technologies to society.
Launching novel AI projects and strengthening support for young researchers
The FY2024 budget request from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) consists of 5,627.5 billion yen (an increase of 627.5 billion yen) for the General Account and 144.4 billion yen (an increase of 35.8 billion yen) for the Special Account for Energy Measures.
Of this amount, the budget request for science and technology is 2,400.8 billion yen, an increase of 342.9 billion yen from the previous fiscal year. Itemized requests are made for budgets related to the H3 rocket, facilities and equipment for national research and development corporations, and the maintenance of facilities in national and private universities.
256.6 billion yen is requested for the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) program, representing an increase of 18.9 billion yen. Budget aims are ensuring funding for parts of Basic Research B, as well as Grants-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas B, and establishing a year-round International Leading Research program. The requirements for support to open a research laboratory will be relaxed to increase the number of successfully adopted projects.
For large-scale projects that advance the academic frontier, 43.7 billion yen will be invested (an increase of 9.3 billion yen). The excavation work and development of advanced equipment needed for the construction of the Hyper-Kamiokande are promoted.
Regarding the Human Glycome Atlas Project, the international standardization of glycan analysis technologies and the development of equipment are prioritized.
Two novel AI-related projects will be launched.
Three billion yen is requested to advance R&D and improve the transparency and reliability of generative AI models. Accordingly, the government, industry, and academia will jointly endeavor to structure an academic research core center, an environment that will foster the R&D capabilities of basic models and ensure reliability by developing learning principles applicable to basic models. One research core center is supported until FY2028.
With 8.5 billion yen for the development and sharing of generative AI models dedicated to scientific research, a domain-oriented generative AI model for scientific research (scientific infrastructure model) will be developed by providing a cooperative platform among research institutes that have strengths in specific scientific fields (domains). Funds will also be used to conduct multimodal learning related to scientific research data using the infrastructure model. Broad access to the use of such developed generative AI models for scientific research by industry and academia spurs innovative scientific research in various fields, dramatically accelerating the scientific research cycle and expanding the scope of scientific research.
In the area of AI, 2.5 billion yen is requested to cover research expenses for young researchers in AI and cross-AI research fields (e.g., cross-pollination with AI) and provide living allowances for doctoral students.
22.1 billion yen (an increase of 18.5 billion yen) is allocated for improving the working conditions and research environment of doctoral students. This project has been designed as a joint enterprise combining the University Fellowship Establishment Project for the Creation of Science and Technology Innovation and Support for Pioneering Research Initiated by the Next Generation (SPRING), previously funded by 'Fusion Oriented REsearch for disruptive Science and Technology (FOREST).' With this joint enterprise, a year-round program will be funded until the investment income from the 10-trillion-yen fund is obtained.
Regarding Research Fellowships for Young Scientists awarded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 19.1 billion yen (an increase of 2.9 billion yen) is requested for increasing the amount of the research incentive grant for doctoral courses (DCs) from 2.4 to 3.12 million yen per year and providing a family allowance for families of postdoctoral (PD) fellows when they go abroad.
In the area of international relations, as ASEAN celebrates the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, the Japan-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperative Partnership Program (1 billion yen) will be active for the next 50 years. This program will promote international joint research, people-to-people exchanges, and the formation of centers of excellence.
Regarding world-class, large-scale research facilities that can be used by many researchers, 3.8 billion yen is requested to launch services of the 3GeV-class synchrotron radiation facility nicknamed 'NanoTerasu,' which has been built on Tohoku University's Aobayama New Campus.
300 million yen is budgeted for the development of SPring-8 II, the brightness of which will be more than 100 times stronger than that of SPring-8.
11.6 billion yen, an increase of 3.8 billion yen, is requested for realizing the material digital transformation (DX) platform. To prepare for the start of full-scale operation of the Advanced Research Infrastructure for Materials and Nanotechnology (ARIM), efforts will be made to strengthen the workforce and facilities necessary for data utilization, form a data core center at the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), and promote data production and a use-oriented materials R&D project.
A new project to promote R&D for DX in the humanities and social sciences will be launched with 200 million yen. To promote research on DX in various fields of the humanities, a Digital Humanities Consortium consisting of domestic academic institutions is organized to build a collaborative system, promote the development of data infrastructure, visualize and disseminate the results of research activities in the humanities and social sciences, and conduct R&D through data analyses.
In the field of space, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will build a new system for the provision of research funds to universities, private companies, and national research institutes. While technological advances bring transformative changes to space activities, JAXA's strategic and agile funding function as a pivotal body among industry, academia, and government—under the leadership of the Cabinet Office partnering with related ministries and agencies—will be strengthened to encourage private companies, universities, and others to engage in R&D in a predictable way over many years. MEXT and the Cabinet Office requested 3 and 1 billion yen, respectively. Moreover, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) requested space activity budgets close to their missions.
R&D in health and medical fields: focusing on the public health response to dementia and strongly promoting drug discovery
The FY2024 budget request related to R&D in the health and medical fields amounts to 232.7 billion yen, an increase of 28.3 billion yen. The budget to be reserved for the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED) is 148.9 billion yen and includes the following: 1 billion yen from the Cabinet Office; 700 million yen from the Children and Families Agency; 600 million yen from MIC; 69.7 billion yen from MEXT; 57.9 billion yen from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW); and 19 billion yen from METI.
A total budget of 83.8 billion yen is planned for AMED's in-house research. MEXT, MHLW, and METI requested 25.4, 51.0, and 7.3 billion yen, respectively. This budget request vigorously promotes R&D in the medical field for the control of the onset/progression and treatment of neurological diseases, such as dementia, and next-generation drug discovery (e.g., genome-based drug discovery, regenerative medicine, cell therapy, and gene therapy).
MEXT is initiating a smart bio drug discovery research support project with 1.9 billion yen to develop innovative technical potential by upgrading functionality of modalities with a combination of elemental technologies. MEXT will also integrate research on disease application with elemental technologies. Furthermore, supporting functions will be reinforced for defining intellectual property strategies, partnering with private companies, and managing pharmaceutical affairs, among others, to ensure that the results lead to practical applications. The Brain & Neuroscience Integration Program will advance the understanding of brain mechanisms by furthering ongoing innovative technologies and research infrastructure through collaborations between basic and clinical medicine, thus enriching academia-industry interactions. Program objectives include the development of a research infrastructure for mathematical models (digital brain) and R&D promotion to create the technical potential for innovative diagnoses, treatments, and drug discoveries for such neurological diseases as dementia.
MHLW is launching a dementia research and development project. The project will support research to explore, develop, and verify certain biomarkers for dementia to advance a method that ensures early, objective, and comfortable diagnoses of the disease. Another aim is to efficiently evaluate the effectiveness of treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and non-AD dementia. In addition, as an underpinning of dementia research, the project will include the following: organization of a platform embracing technical support departments that promote the formation of a dementia registry cohort with a trial-ready cohort for dementia and related standardization, equalization of standardized dementia testing systems, development of clinical research infrastructure, and establishment of a framework to accelerate R&D and safely and efficiently utilize quality-controlled data in dementia research.
This article has been translated by JST with permission from The Science News Ltd. (https://sci-news.co.jp/). Unauthorized reproduction of the article and photographs is prohibited.