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Science Council of Japan drafts recommendations for Seventh Science, Technology, and Innovation Basic Plan

2024.12.09

The Seventh Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan is set to begin in Fiscal Year 2026. Although full-scale studies have yet to begin, the Science Council of Japan (SCJ) has released outline draft recommendations for the Seventh Plan. The announcement was made at its General Assembly on October 22. The text will be formally resolved and proposed to the government in late November or December.

The recommendations were drafted by the Committee for Science and Society's Subcommittee on Japanese Academic Systems with unusual speed. The draft recommendations were finalized in July, little over six months after the Subcommittee's first meeting in February. Recommendation 1 addresses "science and technology that can help address urgent social issues." Moreover, various committees have been established to address the issues identified in the recommendations. A system has also been established to handle requests to exchange views with the government.

It is important to build a society that is resilient to unforeseeable changes. To do so, an environment that allows rapid decision-making and flexible research is required. Basic research capabilities must be strengthened to generate innovation and a total body of knowledge that can expand to encompass unknown values. This is the key message of the recommendations.

For the formulation of its Basic Plan, the SCJ has always made the expansion of the total body of knowledge the most important factor in the recommendation. Of course, the total body of knowledge is what will make Society 5.0 possible, so its importance remains undiminished. However, the first recommendation above addresses the most pressing current social issues.

The background to this development involves the SCJ responding to criticisms it has faced. These criticisms include the SCJ failing to take the needs of the public and society into account. It has been accused of not providing scientific advice in a timely manner. Insufficient exchange of ideas with outside stakeholders has also been raised as an issue.

Therefore, efforts to strengthen the total body of knowledge are addressed in Recommendation 2. However, Recommendation 1 addresses the realization of institutions and initiatives that enable inclusive science, technology, and innovation. Such institutions and initiatives are aimed at coping with pandemics, climate change, ultra-low birthrate and aging, and other urgent issues as well as with rapid social transformation brought about by advances in data science, including advances in generative AI.

The entire text of Recommendation 1 is as follows:

  1. (1) Establishing systems to promptly initiate research on large-scale disasters and pandemics, which are difficult to foresee, and building systems to ensure social resilience under these circumstances (disaster prevention and disaster mitigation).
  2. (2) Shifting to a carbon-neutral, sustainable, and resilient society with a circular economy that facilitates the revival of nature.
  3. (3) Ensuring competitiveness in AI research that looks beyond generative AI; creating a framework for safe, secure social implementation of AI; and ensuring international harmonization and compatibility with legal systems, etc.
  4. (4) Promoting policy making based on strategic intelligence.
  5. (5) Strengthening responses to ethical, legal, and social issues to promote and develop research.
  6. (6) Strengthening industry-academia-government-private collaboration through civic tech and community science.
  7. (7) Appropriately ensuring research integrity as research activities become more open and internationalized.

However, to realize these objectives, more concrete measures need to be discussed with policymakers and experts.

To this end, the SCJ has established a number of subcommittees. These deal with issues such as AI, climate change, research capacity, and research evaluation. These groups are ready to dialog with the government at its request.

Recommendation 2 suggests strengthening research capabilities. The suggested means for achieving this goal are supporting research that contributes to solving urgent issues, providing support for a broad and diverse range of research fields, including basic and traditional research fields, and assisting the continuous accumulation of knowledge and technology.

Recommendation 3 is to encourage the accumulation and opening of knowledge and data as public goods and new forms of science through the further development of data science.

Recommendation 4 is to support the development of highly skilled human resources with diverse careers in all fields and various locations. Systems that enable such personnel to demonstrate their expertise in numerous situations need to be strengthened.

Recommendations in just six months: Against the backdrop of accumulated achievements

The SCJ newly convened for its 26th term last October. So, they only had six months to draft the recommendations. What made this possible in such a short period of time was the SCJ's track record of achievements. These include its Future Academic Advancement Initiative, proposals for the Fourth to Sixth Basic Plans, and the views of the Young Academy.

Kazuhiro Hayashi, chairperson of the Subcommittee, said, "To be honest, we had a very tight schedule since the 26th term started in October of last year. Outside of formal meetings, we exchanged ideas online and collaboratively edited texts in the cloud. We will be formally submitting our recommendations in the future. We want to contribute to the Basic Plan through dialog with the government, rather than just throwing ideas out there."

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.

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