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* Introduction of Strategic Sector, Research Area and Research Supervisor
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Creation of technological seeds which respond to social demands |
In 2002, JST adopted a new policy which reorganizes all the basic research programs of JST (i.e., both ongoing and new research projects in CREST, PRESTO, SORST, and RISTEX; new research projects in ERATO, lCORP, and ACT-JST) to exclusively provide these programs with the mission that will meet the social demands in the future. Then, JST started new basic research framework, which is divided into two types with different mechanisms: Team and Individual Type (this includes former CREST, PRESTO, SORST, RISTEX, and ACT-JST) and Director-Oriented Type (this includes ERATO and ICORP).
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ln March 2006, the Third Science and Technology Basic Plan strategically formulated the national policies for science and technology of a new era, and the Japanese Council for Science and Technology Policy proposed four priority fields to be promoted as the national policies for the strategic promotion of science and technology, which will meet the social demands of this country in the future. ln response to such science and technology policies proposed, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) designated generic goals of science and technology (called Strategic Sectors) and JST accordingly set research disciplines centering on each Strategic Sector (called Research Areas).
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It consists of two different mechanisms. ln each mechanism, JST first designates a prominent researcher who is most suitable for supervising the research in each Research Area (i.e.Supervisor of Team and Individual Type and Director of Director-Oriented Type), and such researcher concretely defines his (her) Area in terms of science and technology based on his (her) own concept.
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ln response to the definitions Supervisors set out, JST widely calls for proposal applications from researchers in universities, as well as public and private research institutes. Supervisors, in collaboration with their Research Area Advisors, review and select the applications. JST then supports the researchers, who perform the research at their own places. This type includes both group (i.e. team-research: called CREST-type) and individual research (called PRESTO-type).
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The Director of this mechanism, in contrast with Directors of Team and Individual Type, directly organizes and closely supervises his (her) own research team (this type is always group research). The Director recruits and/or calls for applications from active researchers (domestic and overseas) who wish to join the research team as a full-time member.
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Research expenditures depend on the scale and period of the research, and include equipment, materials, personnel, and travel expenses.
The breakdown of such expenditures are determined in consultation with the Supervisors of Team and Individual Type and the Directors of Director-Oriented Type.
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