More than 500 organizations represented hundreds of thousands of scientists in Japan have started a petition in which the government is asked to increase the funds for its most important scientific funding agency.

The Petition calls for higher financing for the Grants-Aid for Scientific Research (Kakenhi) Program.

According to the KaKaShige Touhara, a biochemist at the University of Tokyo and President of the Union of the Japanese Societies for Biology Sciences,

KAKENHI provided decisive funds for research-based research that has been driven by curiosity and has contributed to the fact that Japan was able to record significant scientific achievements, including Nobel Prize discoveries such as induced pluripotent stem cells .

Although other subsidies for research with clear social applications or priority government areas are also available, Kakenhi is the most important source for basic financing in Japan, according to Touhara. Kakenhi's means are the only competition grants to which Japanese researchers can access all disciplines.

In absolute numbers, the annual budget for Kakenhi has remained constant at just under 240 billion yen ($ 1.5 billion) in the past ten years. However, if one takes into account inflation and a weaker yen, the average amount that was assigned for each project has decreased by half between 2013 and 2022 (the last available year).

"A falling yen, rising public costs and inflation last year, the academics brought their limits," says Yukiko Gotoh, a molecular biologist at the University of Tokyo, who initiated the petition.

declining position

The petition comes at a time growing concern about the Sinking state of research in the state . According to a Report of 2023 of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (Mext) is Japan Global placement in countries with the top 10% of the Meist -moved papers, a measure of top -class research, fell on the 13th place. One reason for this decline, according to political analysts, is reduced financing. While many wealthy countries have increased their research expenditure significantly in the past two decades -China, for example, by more than ten times -has only increased by 10% in real values.

In an effort to stop the downward trend, the Japanese government has followed a "select and concentrate" strategy by steering funds into some disciplines in which the country can be competitive.

But Hiroshi Kimura, a cell biologist at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and co -organizer of the petition, explains that a main goal of the petition is to challenge this strategy. "There is no future for Japanese science, without promoting a variety of innovation approaches," he says. The Japanese government is increasingly listening to both Kakenhi and other funding programs to the universities and disciplines that they selected. This let other research groups fight for money.

Touhara explains that the petition will concentrate on Kakenhi as the first step, as this is a realistic goal. The petition does not call a specific amount for the program, but the organizers say that at least 480 billion yen are required to regain international competitiveness - twice the current annual budget.

But Keitaro Ohno, a politician who belongs to the research committee for science, technology and innovation strategy of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, says that it is not so easy to increase the funding. He explains that the country has to restructure its financing mechanisms, which have not been significantly revised for decades. In general, there is generally more funds for scientists, but emphasizes that the Kakenhi funding program in connection with other research funding programs must be considered. "In view of the significant progress that we made in the university reform," he says, be it time to "fundamentally restructure the financing mechanisms".

Nature has asked the office for science, technology and innovation policy to comment on the petition and will update the article accordingly.