Outline of Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (ERTDF)

The ERTDF aims to contribute to the preservation of the environment in Japan and around the world to establish a sustainable society. It will achieve this by assembling the collective strength of researchers within Japan from a range of fields to promote survey research and technology development in a comprehensive manner from an academic and international perspective.

Research projects implemented under the ERTDF will be selected upon examination from a number of proposed projects by researchers from government, industry and academic circles and community bodies. It is referred to as a "competitive research fund" because of the competitive manner in which research proposals are chosen based on the quality of the proposal.

In the process of screening the applied proposals, the ERTDF evaluates from the following three perspectives and selects competitively; (1) Project necessity (significance in science and technology and environmental administration), (2) Project efficiency (appropriateness of research organization, plan, and cost), (3) Project effectiveness (achievability of goals, degree of contribution to environmental and other policies, outcome and impact of research).

What is the Governmental Policy ('Administrative Needs') ?

The Ministry of Environment (MOE) annually sets the Governmental Policy ('Administrative Needs'), to every sixteen important subjects so that MOE each section can rapidly utilize the research results for governmental policy.

Administrative Needs are the research subjects of environment and technology development field, which are supposed to be necessary in a couple of years ahead.