Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held the first meeting of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, discussion took place on the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) and the formulation of the Comprehensive Strategy on Science, Technology and Innovation.
Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said in his address,
“Today marks a new beginning, as the name of this Council has been changed to the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation following legal revisions made last month. The reason we added ‘innovation’ and made the name of this Council so long is because ‘innovation’ reflects our strong desire to clearly emphasize not only the promotion of R&D, but also the need to ensure the results of these efforts have an actual outlet, such as industrialization.
As such, I ask for your continuing efforts to help make this Council function effectively as a control tower.
In this regard, I would like to make two remarks today.
First, with regard to formulating a comprehensive strategy for science, technology and innovation policy, I would like you to create a bold and impactful policy package that will lead to the cultivation of new economic frontiers, and then reflect this in the revision of the Japan Revitalization Strategy and the Basic Policies.
Second, under the leadership of this Council, the Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) is a ground-breaking initiative that seeks to eliminate the harmful effects of the vertically segmented structure in ministries and promote government-wide collaboration across the country for the betterment of society. It is imperative that we continue to strongly promote this National Emphasis Program and ensure that it is a success.
To that end, I would like to ask that you carefully follow up on the progress and that relevant ministers extend their cooperation in all areas.”