The government on Thursday compiled a draft of Japan's next five-year science and technology plans through fiscal 2005, emphasizing four fields, including life science and data communications, government officials said.

The draft will be discussed by the Council for Science and Technology at the Prime Minister's Office and finalized by the end of the year, the officials said.

The other two scientific fields to be emphasized are the environment and nanotechnology and materials.

The draft spending plan does not cover the government's total amount of investment in research and development for the draft plans.

It does, however, propose doubling the budget for allocating research funds to researchers on a competitive basis from the current annual budget of 300 billion yen, the officials said.

The draft plan also proposes a system that allows junior researchers to be hired at national research institutes on a temporary basis to give them the opportunity to work in various areas, the officials said.

It also covers renovation of a total of 11 million sq. meters of facilities, including old university buildings.

The draft said basic research that could be applied to various fields -- including research such as that done by Hideki Shirakawa, winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry -- needs to be promoted.

Shirakawa, a professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, won the prize for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.