Systems Thinking for Prioritizing Technology Research & Development in Public Administration

Abstract

In Japan's policies on science and technology, the distribution of resources may be done without any theoretical basis. The Cabinet Office, which prepares the basic plan for science and technology policy, and the ministries and agencies that specifically implement science and technology policy under them have divergent evaluations of projects.

For this reason, we referred to past papers and picked up some ideas. As a result, we created a formula. Based on it, we evaluate projects in the environment and energy sectors. There are five projects. The primary reason why I’m choosing these projects is that many projects have not yet prepared the necessary indicators for this type of evaluation.

We will create indicators to create priorities in the basic plan based on this. Discuss how it could be used within the Cabinet Office. This will allow the Cabinet Office, which formulates the Science and Technology Basic Plan, to manage the projects included in that plan. Project priorities can be set more clearly than before based on the indicators. This will result in a more rational allocation of limited budget and human resources. Until now, explicit prioritization has not been part of the budget assessment, but this indicator is one of the evaluations that will contribute to that action.