According to a survey by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, R&D spending in Japan grew 2.6% to ¥18,943.8 billion ($164.7 billion). Respondents consisted of 10,488 companies, 1,200 nonprofits and 3,500 universities. Companies, nonprofits and universities accounted for 73%, 8.9% and 18.1% of R&D spending, respectively. R&D spending by companies and universities rose 3.8% and 1.2%, respectively, but fell 3.6% for nonprofits. Natural sciences R&D increased 2.7% to ¥17,556 billion, with 13.8% going to basic research, 23.2% going to applied research and 63.0 % going to development. Applied and basic research spending for the natural sciences grew 7.6% and 1.7%, respectively, while development spending increased 1.2%. Nanotechnology and environment R&D expenditures grew 12.5% and 9.9% to ¥926.8 billion and ¥1,077 billion, respectively. R&D spending for the life sciences rose 5.3% ¥2,690 billion. The total number of R&D personnel increased 0.3% to 1,055,200.

Source: NSF Tokyo Office