The Japan Association of National Universities, along with domestic economic, educational and academic organizations such as Keidanren and the Japan Association of National Universities, has requested Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to drastically expand the science and technology budget. Strengthening science and technology innovation is indispensable for the realization of a 1 million active society, and the supplementary budget for FY2016 requires additional budget measures of 5,000 billion yen or more.
The request was made at the Prime Minister's Office, and was attended by Susumu Satomi, President of Tohoku University, and Takashi Onishi, President of Toyohashi University of Technology, who was the Vice President of the Japan Association of National Universities.I handed the request to Prime Minister Abe.
According to the Japan Association of National Universities, the international competitiveness of Japanese universities and national R & D corporations is declining year by year, and the number of Japanese universities in the top of the world university rankings is also decreasing. There is a possibility that it will be overtaken.
Furthermore, Japan, which lacks resources, was a member of the developed world because it fully utilized the strengths of science and technology, and if the current situation is left unchecked, it could move from a first-class country to a third-class country. It is supposed to be possible.
In order to overcome this situation, along with additional measures in the supplementary budget, science and technology related budgets will be excluded from sealing (* 2017) from FY1, and the government budget for each year will surely increase by 8% from the previous year. I asked you to do it.In addition, it is appealing to further strengthen industry-academia-government collaboration from basic research to commercialization, and to put more effort into securing full-time researchers and training young researchers.
(* 1) Sealing The maximum amount requested by the Cabinet regarding the budget request made by each ministry and agency to the Ministry of Finance.