The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) has announced the Project Managers (PMs) selected for the three Moonshot Goals handled by JST under the Moonshot Research and Development Program.

The program pursues challenging R&D concepts set by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in order to solve issues facing our future society such as super-aging populations and global warming. Each of the Moonshot Goals has a Program Director (PD), under which PMs each formulate an R&D scenario, design a project, and plan and manage the organization of R&D to achieve their respective Moonshot Goals.

R&D for Moonshot Goals 1, 3 and 6 started in FY2020, but in order to achieve each Moonshot Goal, additional R&D projects have now been added.

Open calls were held for each Moonshot Goal, and applications were reviewed by PDs in cooperation with external experts. A total of 42 applications were received, after which document and interview screening was conducted to make a final selection of 16 PMs.

Under the direction of their PD, selected PMs will refine their plans to achieve their Moonshot Goal so that the R&D will be more effective and efficient. Once they have received PD approval, each PM can begin their R&D project.

For details, please refer to the website below.

https://www.jst.go.jp/moonshot/en/index.html