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THE HUMAN FRONTIER SCIENCE PROGRAMME: A WINDOW INTO TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY RESEARCH FOR AUSTRALIA
Abstract
Japan's Human Frontier Science Programme, tacitly endorsed in the 1988 Toronto Summit Declaration, is examined in the context of converging Japanese economic and social imperatives. The two key research areas of the programme, elucidation of brain functions and elucidation of biological functions through molecular level approaches, are both ones in which Australia has research strengths. Opportunities for major investment in the biological component of Australia's basic research infrastructure and postdoctoral training are emerging, which could greatly assist Australia's research capability in the biosciences. Assuming successful establishment of the programme, there are several challenges which will need to be faced whether Australia participates at a managerial level or not. Issues such as intellectual property rights and drainage of research talent will undoubtedly emerge, although largely as a result of a potential ‘new protectionism’ among Summit countries, rather than from Japan in isolation. In addition, the social policy driving the Human Frontier Science Programme is poorly conceived, and may lead to contention in certain areas of research.
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NOTES AND REFERENCES
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ibid..
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The concept of developing scientific and technological systems in harmony with man and society has never been analysed in depth in any of the literature to date, although continually noted as a major rationale for HFSP. It is an intriguing notion which deserves further investigation. Recent articles describe HFSP in a superficial sense as fostering harmony between science and society and nature. See Kozo Iizuka, ‘Stretching the frontiers of science’, Journal of Japanese Trade and Industry, 3, 1989, p. 11.
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ibid..
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ibid..
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ibid..
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‘Human frontier’, Nihon Keizai, 19 January 1989, p. 1. These estimates have been based on speculation and on the early MITI-inspired publicity. The figure should be seen as potential; expenditure has so far been only token (roughly $A23 million in 1988/89, basically for promotion expenses). This same article prematurely announced London as the site for the headquarters of the administrative foundation.
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ibid..
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D. Swinbanks, ‘Management issues settled’, Nature, 339, 22 June 1989, p. 573. Latest information suggests that Strasbourg will be the favoured site (private communication, Embassy of Japan).
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C. Tisdell, ‘The international realpolitic of science and technology policy”, Prometheus, 1, 1, 1983, p. 132. The classic texts are, naturally, D. Ricardo, The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, 1817; and T.R. Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population as it Affects the Future Improvement of Society, 1798.
H. P. Caton, ‘The Human Frontier Science Programme, a synopsis’, 2 February 1988 (mimeo).
Commission for the Future, Future Challenges for Australia: the Biotechnology Revolution, Melbourne, August 1986.
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