Japan’s proposed Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) budget for 2014 will increase 1.1% to ¥3,626 billion ($36.3 billion). The budget will become final in March after approval by the Diet, which is unlikely to change it appreciably. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will receive 63.8% of the funds, a decrease of 0.2%. Research universities will receive ¥6.40 billion, and ¥3.64 billion will go to the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project. The Cabinet’s Strategic Innovation Promotion Program will be funded at ¥50.0 billion. The Cabinet Secretariat has allocated ¥12.1 billion to the Innovative Medical Technology Creation Project, which will support clinical research, strengthening translational research, creating hospitals for clinical medicine and launching an NIH-like funding agency. The Secretariat has selected the Japan Cancer Research Project, and Brain and Mental Diseases to receive ¥17.2 billion and ¥7.1 billion, respectively. The 2013 Supplemental STI budget is ¥433.3 billion.

Source: NSF Tokyo Regional Office