What is the Core Contents of the Science of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy?

“The Science of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy” is an emerging discipline where policy and research interact and develop in order to make science, technology and innovation (STI) policy more evidence-based. The Core Contents on this website provides the knowledge that is fundamental to understanding the Science of STI Policy. It is intended for students who are new to the Science of STI Policy, as well as for policy makers and practitioners involved in STI policy.

The scope of the Science of STI Policy is diverse and involves a variety of disciplines, including economics, business administration, political science and sociology. At the same time, the Science of STI Policy aims to create knowledge that can be used in the practice of policy formation. The authors are researchers active in various academic fields, as well as policy makers and practitioners involved in STI policy. The content was discussed and developed by the Core Curriculum Editorial Committee comprised of members from related universities and institutions.

The Core Contents may change with time and social conditions, so its content will be periodically updated.

The Core Contents is prepared as part of the “Science for RE-designing Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (SciREX) ” program launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2011.

The SciREX program aims to realize “Evidence-Based Policy Making” (EBPM), in which effective policies are formulated to address issues based on an understanding and analysis of economic, social and other conditions from multiple perspectives. In order to realize EBPM, we believe that it is important to “co-evolve” the "science of STI policy" and the "policy-making process" together, and we are working on dialogue and collaboration between those involved in policy-making and researchers throughout the entire program.
Click here for more information on the SciREX program.

The creation of the Core Contents also proceeded through dialogue and collaboration between the parties involved. In 2016, when the study began, five centers at six universities (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, the University of Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University, Osaka University/Kyoto University, Kyushu University), shared syllabi and reading lists of their educational programs. And a workshop was held to discuss the issues (science questions) in this area in cooperation with the relevant universities, institutions and the MEXT.
(See also. Survey of domestic and international education and research programmes for the creation of Core Content for “Science of Science and Technology Innovation Policy”, JST-CRDS, 2018. [in Japanese])

With the aim of creating not only teaching materials but also a core educational curriculum in the future, a SciREX Core Curriculum Editorial Committee was set up in the same year to identify the core elements to be learnt (core content) based on science questions and to create a table of contents structure. As the target audience was not only students and researchers but also policy makers, it was decided that each content would be reviewed by two persons, one researcher from a related field and one policy maker/practitioner, to ensure the quality of the content and to reflect the perspectives of the expected readers.

This website was made available to the public for a limited time at the SciREX Summer Camp for students from the five centers in August 2018, followed by a general release in April 2019. The Core Contents is used in classes at each of the relevant universities and in training courses for MEXT administrative officials to further utilize and improve the content.