Strategic Technology Roadmap 2009: Roadmap for Strategic Planning and Implementation of R&D Investment

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) called upon industry, academia, and government experts to combine their knowledge and experience to formulate the Strategic Technology Roadmap (STR) 2009 in cooperation with NEDO and other agencies. This latest STR contains updates on existing technologies and focuses on a greater range of technologies in 30 fields.

The STR is designed to show technological targets that should be achieved to develop new industries, and strategies to create demand for products and services. METI will use the STR for its R&D management and to facilitate the sharing of visions and technological challenges among industry, academia and government, in the hope of contributing to the promotion of innovation, including cross-sector and cross-industry collaboration and technology convergence.

1. The STR was developed as a comprehensive technology strategy that identifies technologies crucial to creating new industries and enhancing Japan’s leading industries’ international competitiveness, sets technical targets for these technologies, and shows a plan to promote these technologies in coordination with related policies in non-R&D fields. The STR may be called a "bird’s-eye roadmap" that serves as a navigator for the strategic execution of R&D investment by industry, academia and government.

2. In March 2005, METI formulated and published the first version of the STR, "STR 2005", which has been revised annually since then. The latest version is the "STR 2009", announced hereby. To formulate this, METI brought together young, front-line researchers as well as researchers and engineers from companies and manufacturers engaged in the relevant technology fields to organize task forces in NEDO and other agencies. The STR 2009 is a product of the collective knowledge and experience of a total of 835 experts across industry, academia and government. The Research and Development Subcommittee (chaired by Kazuhito Hashimoto, professor at the University of Tokyo) of the Industrial Science and Technology Policy Committee under the Industrial Structure Council deliberated on its general formulation policy and measures to promote R&D in the public and private sectors in light of the STR.

3. The STR 2009 reviewed and updated all the technology fields in the previous version, based on the latest technology and market trends and R&D results. With a new field - metrology and measurement system - added, it now covers 30 fields. Another noteworthy effort made for the latest version is discussions incorporating proposals on the STR from academic societies and associations as a result of stronger partnerships with academia. Convenience to users was also improved in the nanotechnology fields by systematizing constituent technologies according to the academic structure and clarifying the importance and scope of the application of these technologies.

4. METI will continue to use the STR as an R&D management tool, since it is an effective policy infrastructure for R&D project planning and establishment, budget requests, project management, and technology assessment activities.

5. The STR has also been utilized as a communication tool between professionals engaged in R&D planning and execution in industry, academia or government. This roadmap systematically and strategically organizes enormous amounts of information on industrial technology. The information contained in the STR is also expected to help industries and academic societies find new research and technology development themes, maintain and manage intellectual property, and consider the possibility of collaborations, such as cross-disciplinary joint research. METI believes that the sharing of this roadmap among industry, academia and government will promote innovation, such as cross-sector and cross-industry collaboration and technology convergence.

6. METI will post the STR 2009 on its website at 14:30 on April 30 to make it widely available to external parties.

Release Date

April 30, 2009

Division in Charge

Research and Development Division, Industrial Science and Technology Policy and Environment Bureau

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