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In a bid to shake off its image as a nation of scientific borrowers,
Japan is asking for help in setting up a centre for basic scientific research.
The ‘Centre of Excellence’ will be open to foreign scientists.

The Ministry of International Trade and Industry is expected to begin
a feasibility study for the centre next month. Å®ÉúСÊÓƵs from other countries
will be invited to join a committee to plan the project.

‘The name ‘centre of excellence’ is perhaps slightly misleading,’ says
Takashi Manabe, of MITI’s Agency of Industrial Science and Technology. ‘If
possible, we would like to make one large centre here in Japan, but this
might lead to criticisms from other countries and would cause administrative
and budgetry problems. More likely, we will reform existing facilities in
Japan and fund basic research projects at large institutes overseas, such
as the Max Planck institutes in Germany.’

While Japan has traditionally been strong in research geared towards
commercial development, it has been weak in basic research. Manabe hopes
that the centre of excellence will change all that. ‘We recognise that Japan
is behind in basic research,’ he said. ‘But now that Japan is an economic
leader in the world we need to change our ‘catch-up’ mentality’.

MITI may run into a few obstacles in Japan’s labyrinthine bureaucracy,
however. Basic research is the preserve of the Science and Technology Agency,
and there is already controversy over whether MITI or the agency will control
the new centre of excellence.