Scientists fear new guidelines will stifle basic research

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Date accessed: 9 October 2001 

Scientists fear new guidelines will stifle basic research

DAVID CYRANOSKI

[TOKYO]

Science-policy guidelines issued by Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi have ignited a fire-storm of protest among the country's leading researchers.

The scientists are upset because they say the guidelines, which strongly emphasize the economic value of research and development, don't provide strong enough support for basic scientific research.

The guidelines were issued on 11 July by the Council for Science and Technology Policy, the top science-policy-making body in the government, which Koizumi chairs. They call for a strategic focus on four key areas of research — life sciences, information technology, environmental research and nanotechnology — and the reform of Japan's science and technology system to build industrial competitiveness, a vigorous economy, better health care and a safe environment.

But 18 former and existing heads of some of the country's leading research institutes wrote an open letter to Koizumi, stating that the guidelines will stifle basic research by "completely mobilizing science and technology to meet short-term goals aimed primarily at industrial competitiveness".

According to Yoshiki Hotta, director of the National Institute of Genetics, who helped to draft the letter, researchers outside the specified fields will either lose support or "do their work under the cover of some other project that fits the government specifications. There's no clear allocation for basic science in the guidelines, and this is dangerous," he says.

A senior researcher at Tokyo University's medical school, who declined to be named, added that the guidelines "will lead to demoralization of scientists, as they keep running after whatever goal is set by the government".

The letter earned its authors a 15-minute audience with Koji Omi, a cabinet-level minister for science and technology policy, who told them that the guidelines make sufficient allowance for basic research. The guidelines state that Japan should "achieve international-class, high-quality basic research that will clear a path to the future". But critics say such words merely pay lip-service to the problem.

Hotta says that the group wrote the open letter — a dramatic gesture by Japanese standards — because there is no proper channel for scientists to give their opinions to the government. Many researchers criticize the Council for Science and Technology Policy for failing to represent their views. The council is composed mostly of ministers and industry representatives, and researchers say that the three academic scientists on it have limited influence.

Some industrialists echo the scientists' complaints. The government has "no clear understanding of what the best research is — and yet they want to move on to application," says Toshiaki Ikoma, president of Texas Instruments in Japan.

Nature © Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2001 Registered No. 785998 England.

Categories: 16. Economics and Biotechnology, 39. General Issues about Research