Governance issues for theReconstruction of the Scienceand Technology Policy System
TOKYO FOUNDATION FOR POLICY RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL WEBINAR
on “Science and Technology Policy at a Turning Point,” Feb 17, 2022,
Session 1: “Cross-sectoral Governance of Emerging Technologies” (10:00–11:15)

Makiko Matsuo 松尾 真紀子
Hideaki Shiroyama 城山 英明: Principal Investigator

Environment Surrounding Emerging Technology• Increasing importance of ST in face of Grand Challenges• Climate change, pandemic, ST plays great role

• Appearance of emergence of new technologies （AI, IoT,biotechnology etc）, with unprecedented speed inadvancement• Broad, ambiguous and uncertain social impact→increasing
complexity, interrelatedness, systematic effects• ST’s promotion must be balanced with its social impact• Increasing recognition of “innovation” aspect• Social demand for accountability, consideration of ELSI@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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Can current STI policy respond to changingenvironment?
• Limits in responding due to 3 STI governance deficits① Shortsighted: focused on immediate short-term interest, evidentrisks）② Siloed: Sectionalism, lack of collaboration with differentfields/sectors, pursuit of partial optimization ）③ Fixed: institution strongly build in a path dependent manner,resist response to change)• The characteristics of current ST governance may work
efficiently for the issues that have limited impact and known,
but not for most issues we are facing today.

@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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Fragmentation of the process and actors of social
introduction of emerging technologies• Different policy actors in different sectors are in charge of basic research, applied research, andsocial introduction. No seamless flow from basic research to social introduction (cf. case of biotech).
• the results of basic research are not passed on, or no feedback to basic research from the societal
lesson or needs.
• The establishment of AMED (Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development ) in thehealthcare sector (2015) is a response to these challenges.

Early/Emerging stageof technology
development

Development stageof technology

Introduction oftechnology into society

Basic Research

Applied ResearchSpecific productsTechnologyembedded in society• Note: Technology does not always progress lineary.
@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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Early/Emerging
Stage ofTechnological
Development

Basic Research
Identification of
Change/symptoms

Develop visions
Social/economical
impactassessment oftechnology
Social/economical
impactassessment oftechnology inapplied field
Risk Management
includingsoft/hard
regulatory
measures in
specific
application
Review wholeprocess andfeed back

Policy Development Process

Identification ofmultiple ways
and options

Development Stage ofTechnology

Introduction ofTechnology to Society

Applied ResearchSpecific Products

HorizonScanning
Foresight

Technology Assessment （TA）

Embedded Stage

SpecificProducts

emerging technologies must bepositioned in the context ofsociety (vision) and take into
account the various ELSIs that
may arise, rather than simply
the R&D of technologies.

Risk Approach

Regulatory Gap Analysis
Regulatory Impact Assessment

松尾・岸本（2017）「新興技術ガバナンスのための政策プロセス における手法・アプローチの横断的分析」の表を修正。社会技術研究論文集 Vol.14, 84-94, June 2017
http://shakai-gijutsu.org/vol14/14_84.pdf@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
All rights reserved.

Need for coordination of various policy tools inpolicy process
Early/Emerging
Stage ofTechnologicalDevelopment

Basic Research
Identification of
Change/symptoms

Develop visions
Social/economicalimpactassessment oftechnology
Social/economical
impactassessment oftechnology inapplied field
Risk Management
includingsoft/hard
regulatory
measures inspecificapplication
Review wholeprocess andfeed back

Policy Development Process

Identification ofmultiple ways
and options

HorizonScanning

Development Stage ofTechnology

Introduction ofTechnology to Society

Applied ResearchSpecific Products

Embedded Stage

Specific
Products

Control Tower（CSTI)
各省の白書・基本計画・ビジョン
FA/動向調査

JST/JSPS, NEDO, AMED

Foresight
研究実施機関大学、NARO、AIST, etc

Technology Assessment （TA）

Risk Approach

Regulatory Gap Analysis
Regulatory Impact Assessment

松尾・岸本（2017）「新興技術ガバナンスのための政策プロセス における手法・アプローチの横断的分析」の表を修正。社会技術研究論文集 Vol.14, 84-94, June 2017
http://shakai-gijutsu.org/vol14/14_84.pdf@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
All rights reserved.

What is needed for our policy and institution –Governance• 3 governance deficits (all are interrelated)① shortsighted→Long term, forward looking app② siloed→ meta, holistic, whole-of-government app.
③ fixed→ flexible, responsive app.

• Need to keep in mind, there is no perfect approach, every
approach can have merit and demerit.

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①Introduction of long-term andforward looking app in policy process• Introduce a mechanism in policy process to form long-termvision (from early to late stage) in priority issue domains• Promote collaboration between existing foresight and HS activities
a. We do have foresight and HS ：promote collaboration/exchange of info between
existing foresight and HS (MEXT NISTEP, METI NEDO), strengthen social aspect intheir analysis, make sure to ensure different multiple paths in foresight• Seamlessly connect long-term vision, foresight, and socialimplementationa. Consider institutional design that seamlessly connect R&D to implementation
including its oversight and regulation
b. Make sure to consider safety, regulatory science and ELSI from the outset.
Embed RRI from the early stage together with the researchers and developers toavoid “pacing problem”

Cf. Lack of long-term perspective in policy making may due to the Japanesebureaucratic system (generalists vs specialist)@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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②Introduce mechanism to ensure
holistic app in policy issues• Need for a Holistic/meta andmulti-level analysis

a. Need for a Holistic/meta app
in policy issue：
interrelatedness, trade offs
• Importance of cross-sector,
jurisdiction etc had always been
acknowledged

SDGｓ

Sustainablebioeconomy

Cf. need to reconsider coordinationand control tower function?

b. Need for a multi-level
perspective (Transitionmanagement)• Need to be aware of overall trend
and landscapes, changingenvironment, international
relations and niche in addition topolicy sphere.

Biotech for bioeconomy

Biotechnology
visionCircularbioeconomy

Bioeconomy

Sustainable andcircularbioeconomy

Bioecology
visionBiroresource
vision3 visions from(Bugge et al. 2016)@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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③introduce a mechanism that allows
flexibility to policy system• Consideration of approaches that enables flexibility andresponsiveness in responding to uncertainty
a. Can we learn lessons from the (planned) adaptive
governance, agile governance, reflexive governance,experimentation etc?

• The concept of agility is appealing in face of unchanging inflexibility andrigidity• How can we exactly utilize this concept in real policy?
• What needs to be taken care of in using it? (ex, agility may inherently
conceptually conflict with stability)b. Need for information and evidence gathering mechanism• In order to make change/rule, (new) information and evidence is needed
but difficult in case of emerging tech

• What kind of mechanism can be considered? (public-private-partnership work?)• Voluntary (consultation) mechanism? (cf. notification procedure in japan
for the genome edited food)@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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Cf. Notification procedure for genome
edited food in Japan• Way to keep pace with technology?
• Regulatory clarification of genome-editing for food use• Certain genome-edited product (considered to pose same level ofrisk as conventional breeding, SDN1, SDN2 case-by-case) wasexempted from the GM regulation• Set in place a mechanism•••to ensure prior consultation to accumulate information, monitor (and forconsumer confidence),
Information of products not under the regulation also made available topublicLabelling is not mandatory but Consumer Agency encourage developers toprovide information on notified products@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy ResearchAll rights reserved.

What role for government and policy makerin STI?
• Making Strategy?
• Rule and norm making?
• Multi-level, policy coordination and process management(OECD, 2018)?
• matching function?

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Annex: Japan's AI Governance<Long-term and forward looking?>• Society 5.0 as social vision? - main focus on integrated technologies of physical spaceand cyber space such as IOT + mention about social inclusion (everyone including
women and elderly can be active)• Discussion of use cases (autonomous vehicles, fin-tech, medical devices, work-lifebalance, etc.) for guideline development<Holistic?>• Discussion at the level of ministries and cabinet level- various benefits and risks(safety, security, ethics) – de fact TA (Technology Assessment)?
• Parallel development of domestic and international discussion (G7, G20, OECD,WTO, TPP, etc.)<Flexibility and adaptation?>• Main focus on non-regulatory measures (soft law) ⇔EU• Extensive roles of self regulations• AI policy as a tool for regulatory reform (governance innovation) crosscutting
traditional sectors cf. METI Data Contract Guideline Jun 2018
• New type of regulation ex. approval of medical machine using AI@ The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research
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