Japan’s latest science and technology strategy makes national security a central pillar of research and innovation policy. The challenge now is to harness science, innovation and security without letting one agenda overwhelm the others.

In March, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Cabinet approved the Seventh Science, Technology and Innovation Basic Plan, a five-year framework that sets the government’s direction on science and technology policy and, crucially, seeks to connect scientific research, industrial innovation and national security around a common set of critical technologies.

That convergence creates opportunities for Japan, but it also raises a fundamental question: How can different policy priorities be connected without allowing one to overwhelm the others? The plan identifies investment priorities, outlines support for research and development by universities and companies and seeks to translate research into social and economic value. But as science, innovation and security increasingly converge, Japan must determine how to govern the tensions among them.

Japan has formulated such plans every five years since the First Basic Plan in 1996. In 2021, “innovation” was added to the title. What distinguishes the Seventh Basic Plan is its explicit identification of “organic coordination between science and technology and national security” as a major policy challenge.

The connection between science and technology policy and security, however, is not new. The Sixth Basic Plan reflected concerns about interstate technology competition, technology leakage and research integrity, including transparency and fairness in research. During the Sixth Plan, Japan also advanced policies linking critical technologies to security, including the Economic Security Promotion Act of 2022 and the Key and Advanced Technology R&D through Cross Community Collaboration Program, known as the K Program.

Against this backdrop, the Seventh Basic Plan advances the “strategic prioritization of technology areas.” It identifies 17 emerging and foundational technology areas and groups six of them into national strategic technology categories: artificial intelligence and advanced robotics, quantum technology, semiconductors and communications, biotechnology and health care, fusion energy and space.

The significance lies partly in the convergence of these priorities. AI, quantum technology, semiconductors, space and biotechnology appear repeatedly not only in the Seventh Basic Plan, but also in Japan’s economic........

© The Japan Times