Reforming R&D Culture as we enter the Era of Big Data

Department of Information Planning http://sti.jst.go.jp/en/

This past October, for the first time in Japan, the International Council for Scientific and Technical Information (ICSTI) hosted a general assembly and annual conference. Titled "ICSTI 2014 General Assembly & Annual Conference in Tokyo," it attracted approximately 40 institutions from around the world involved in the dissemination of science and technology (S&T) information.

At the general assembly meeting, a variety of topics were discussed, including the collection of S&T information leading to policy recommendations, distribution and utilization of research data, and suggestions utilized for evaluating R&D. For instance, the National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSL) stated that it utilizes reports and information, including scientific indicators, that Western and other major countries have published for drafting S&T policies. These reports and information are reportedly disseminated in a number of ways including collection on the net, organization and systematization through the application of data mining techniques, machine translation into Chinese, and efficiency evaluation.

The annual conference consisted of three sessions, "Open Platform for Data Sharing," "New STI related Technologies/Services," and "Analysis and Evaluation based on STI (for Innovation)", in which ICSTI members as well as non-members took part. These sessions shared a common theme which was that as the era of Big Data emerges in the field of S&T research, the structure of the field is likely to be changed to a "data-driven style" in which we create new value by sharing and using data. Furthermore, since the volume of data to be managed is becoming so enormous that it could exceed the capacity of memory technology available in the world today, each country should encourage the sharing of research data in collaboration with other countries.

R&D utilizing Big Data is important for opening up opportunities in innovation that create efficient and effective new value. In order to utilize research data as Big Data, we need to dispel the stereotype that "R&D data belongs only to researchers."

• - This is an English translation of NEWS 2 in TOPICS, which was published in the February 2015 issue of JST news.
  http://www.jst.go.jp/pr/jst-news/pdf/2014/2015_02_p14.pdf