Graphic II-10-2-2 Major Initiatives for FY 2012 by Incorporated Administrative Agencies with a Primary Focus on Research Under MLIT

Incorporated Administrative Agency	Summary
Public Works Research Institute	Public Works Research Institute Implemented research and development to contribute to the efficient creation of quality social capital and the development of Hokkaido such as “research on prevention, reduction, and early recovery from more intensified and divers natural disasters,” and “research on innovative technology for greener social infrastructure.”
Building Research Institute	Building Research Institute Implement research on technology regarding housing, architecture, and urban planning such as “advanced evaluation methods on the energy conservation performance of housing and architecture in preparation for strengthened application of energy conservation standards” and “advanced response evaluation technology for high-rise buildings against long-period ground motion.”
National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory	National Traffic Safety and Environment Laboratory Conducted security of air transport and land transport, technical standards conformity assessment of automobiles, and technical evaluations related to recalls, including “promoting the development and commercialization of next generation heavy vehicles,” and “survey on driving behavior of drivers when presented with pedestrian information from safe driving support systems enabled by communication.”
National Maritime Research Institute	National Maritime Research Institute Conducted research on ensuring the safety of marine transport, preservation of marine environment, marine development and advanced marine transport including, “research for advanced analysis technology for high precision reproduction of marine accident occurrence conditions,” “research on green evolution of ships that contribute to revolutionary technology to reduce the environmental burden,” and “research on advancing and developing a safety evaluation method on renewable marine energy production systems.”
Port and Airport Research Institute	Port and Airport Research Institute Conducted research and development that contributes to the creation of a safe and comfortable society, preservation and formation of a good coastal environment, and creation of an vital economic society such as “development of composite tsunami damage estimation technology for tsunami disasters and port recovery,” and “evaluation of making the inspection, diagnosis, and monitoring of port structures more precise through the use of non-destructive testing technology.”
Electronic Navigation Research Institute	Electronic Navigation Research Institute Implement research and development for advancing air traffic management systems such as “expanding the capacity of airways,” “expanding the processing capacity of congested airports”, and “safety and technology that connects air and land.”

## (2) Regional Development Bureau Initiatives

Technical and Engineering Offices and Port and Airport Technology Investigation Offices coordinate with relevant offices in their jurisdiction for tests and research of civil works material and water quality, hydraulic tests and design for the effective and efficient development of facilities, development of environmental monitoring systems, and other matters for technology development as well as the utilization and promotion of new technology tailored to the region.

## (3) Promoting Technological Research and Development in the Fields of Construction and Transport

Regarding important research issues concerning construction technology that are especially urgent, issues that involve a wide range of fields are taken up and the governmental departments take the lead with the coordination of industry, academia and government to implement research comprehensively and organizationally for the “comprehensive technology development projects” where in FY 2012, research and development is being conducted for a total of five issues including the “development of inspection and monitoring technology for the preventative conservation management of social capital.”

Also, for the transport field, technological research and development that contributes to ensuring safety, improving convenience, and protecting the environment are being promoted efficiently and effectively with the coordination of industry, academia and government and in FY 2012 the “promotion of comprehensive technology development for advances control and management systems in the field of transport” is being undertaken.

## (4) Supporting Private Sector Technological Research and Development

To promote private sector investments in research and development, support is given through special tax treatment regarding experiment and research expenses.

## (5) Promoting Public Invitation Type Research and Development Subsidy Systems

To promote technological innovation in the construction sector, for the “Construction Technology Research and Development Subsidy Program” that invites the public to make proposals for technological research and development that contribute to the sophistication and strengthening of international competitiveness of construction technology under MLIT’s authority, two types of public invitation are made, public invitations for technology development that solves policy issues (implementation in 2-3 years) and public invitations for technology development in response to earthquakes (implementation in 1-2 years) and in fiscal 2012, 14 new issues were adopted and 12 issues were carried over.