The 77th session of the Council for Science and Technology Policy was held at the Prime Minister’s Official Residence on October 31, 2008.
At the session, the Council confirmed the prioritization of important policy tasks and reported the results of its evaluation of prioritization regarding the fiscal 2009 budget requests made by relevant ministries and agencies ahead of the compilation of the budget, which will feature thorough selection and prioritization. In addition, the Council decided to adopt a revised version of　"National Guidelines for Evaluating Goverment Funded R&D" , used as a reference in the research evaluation conducted by ministries and agencies as well as research institutions, in order to resolve existing problems and enhance the effectiveness of evaluation amid growing public expectations for research and development, and propose it to the Prime Minister.

In the latter half of the session, Professor Kobayashi and Professor Maskawa, the 2008 Nobel laureates in Physics, joined in and explained their research. They also exchanged their opinions with council members about science and technology policies.
Professor Maskawa said, “In our postgraduate days, whole Japanese had high ambition for science. In the years of reconstruction after the defeat, with its lack of natural resources, people believed the only possible way to success is science. I hope that Japan will become a society in which students feel passionate about science and can realize their dreams”

At the end of the session, Prime Minister Aso said, “It was really encouraging news that four Japanese scientists won the Nobel Prize in the same year. The award makes it apparent Japan has latent power, in that sense I feel very proud.” He added, “We must strive to ensure that more people will follow the path of Professors Kobayashi and Masukawa. We will always take appropriate measures regarding science and technology policies from a long-term perspective.”