# PROMOTION OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

## Development of Promotional Strategies in the Information and Communications Field by the Council for Science and Technology Policy

In accordance with the Second Basic Plan for Science and Technology, which was approved by the Cabinet in March 2001, four areas in the science and technology field including information and communications were given priority in the allocation of R&D resources due to their significant contribution to intellectual assets and their economic and social impact.

Furthermore, in September 2001 promotional strategies for each of these four important areas were mapped out to further R&D in each field. Based on the area-specific promotional strategies, the MPHPT will clearly identify those areas that should be given priority in the ensuing fiscal year and this will be the basis for creating budgets and policies for allocating resources such as budget and human resources related to science and technology. The ministry will work together as called for with the budgeting authority to ensure that the policies will be reflected in the budgets. In addition, the area-specific promotional strategies will be actively and flexibly reviewed every year.

## Support for R&D through Competitive Funds

In order to enhance the quality of R&D in the field of information and communications technology, as well as to further advance the capabilities of researchers by means of creating a competitive research environment that would result in the output of world-class intellectual assets, the MPHPT established in fiscal 2002 the strategic information and communications R&D promotion system. This system will enable the ministry to aggressively promote a creative and innovative R&D that complements important strategic issues.

## System of R&D and Evaluation of R&D

With the establishment of a committee on the R&D system within the Information Communications Technology Branch of the Telecommunications Council, in January 2001, the MPHPT has been studying the status of the R&D system in the information and communications field in Japan. The ministry has also been studying the evaluation of R&D in the information and communications field through the establishment of a committee on the evaluation of R&D within the Special Interest Group on Information and Communications Technology of the Telecommunications Council. After the ministry received the report in March 2002 on the Nature of Research Evaluation Pertaining to Information and Communications Technology, it created the MPHPT Guidelines for Evaluating Research and Development on Information and Communications. The ministry has started in fiscal 2002 to conduct a full-scale evaluation of research as part of its policy evaluation.

## Development of Broadband DSL Network

In order to allow constant connection to a high-speed Internet network in areas where it is not possible to install broadband lines into each home by wiring an additional line such as a fiber optic line due to structural issues or opposition from other residents in the area, a hybrid method through the use of a broadband DSL (VDSL) has been gaining a lot of attention as a promising alternative. With this method, existing telephone lines will be used within the house, which will then be connected via optic fibers to the collective residential area. In response to the growing popularity of this new method, the MPHPT since fiscal 2001 has been engaged in R&D on a broadband DSL through commissioned research undertaken by the TAO.

## R&D on the Next-Generation Internet

In order to promote the sound permeation and development of business applications on the Internet, the MPHPT has been engaged in research, thorough the TAO, on technologies related to the next-generation Internet, which will be highly secure and reliable and allow for ultra-high-speed and large-capacity networks. Areas of R&D that have been focused upon up until fiscal 2001 include producing ultra-high-speed and large-capacity, digital watermark, and authenticity verification of homepages. In fiscal 2002, which is the final year of this R&D