In Japan, research and development in relation to the road, 10 policy domains have been defined. They are designed to allow degrees of freedom to widely take in the wisdom of "academia" and technology of "industry". In order to improve the quality of the road policy through close cooperation among industry, academia and government, it was publicly solicited to propose the tasks of technological research and development in the 10 policy domains. As another method to cooperate among three parties, Public Works Research Institute (PWRI) actively promotes joint research, having two types of joint research scheme (that proposed by PWRI and that proposed by the private sector). For the promotion of intelligent transport systems (ITS), a related study has got underway, having established the "Smart Way Project Advisory Committee" in 1999 with academic experts, ITS specialists in the industrial circles, related government ministries as members, with a view to clarifying the significance, function, requirements, and measures to realize the Smart Way. In addition, the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management (NILIM) and 23 private enterprises have engaged injoint research since February 2005. In order to enhance application of new technologies, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) is constructing a mechanism for finding useful new technologies developed in the private sector and utilizing them in public works. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.
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