NSF PR 98-5 - January 28, 1998
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Japan Catching U.S. in Some Scientific and Technological
Indicators
Some of Japan's leading indicators of science and
technological strength have caught up with or surpassed
those of the United States, a special report by the
National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Science
Resources Studies (SRS) concludes.
The report, The Science and Technology Resources
of Japan, says Japan leads the U.S. in the
percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) invested
by government and industry in non-defense research
and development (R&D). It also says that Japan outpaces
the U.S. in the percent of its GDP invested by government
in civilian R&D.
The report describes Japan's growing awareness that
it needs more advanced industries based on fundamental
science. This awareness culminated in a 1995 Science
and Technology Basic Law, and the decision to double
the government R&D budget by the year 2000 or shortly
thereafter.
"Like us, Japan has been dealing with a large national
debt, a public eager to balance the budget and a private
sector that prefers to see a smaller government,"
Jean Johnson, the report's author, explained. "Although
Japan has been experiencing slower economic growth
in the 1990s than most other industrial nations, its
government has chosen to increase funding of science
as an investment in the future."
The increased investment in science is seen in Japan
as an important aspect of the nation's recovery from
recession and for long-term, sustainable national
growth and development, says the report.
The report also reveals where Japan lags behind the
U.S.: in R&D expenditures for higher education; in
output in competitive research funding at universities;
and in its share of the world's influential scientific
articles.
Japan is attempting to address its current weaknesses
in research through increased government budgets targeted
specifically for universities and national labs, expansion
of doctoral programs and more emphasis on basic research,
the report states.
Japan's efforts could have a potentially positive
influence for the international research community,
the SRS report's summary chapter says. It explains
that Japan's additional research funds are being earmarked
for international cooperation on global issues such
as food, energy, the environment and infectious diseases.
Japan is also contributing more to basic research
projects, such as the Human Frontiers and the Human
Genome Project.
Johnson notes that further monitoring will be done
of Japan's new R&D investment strategy -- especially
for its impact on Japan's technological capability
and economic recovery -- and because of the important
insights it will provide policy makers and students
in international development.
Editors: For the complete report, see: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf97324/start.htm
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