Ministry of Science and ICT's Budget for Next Year 18.5625 Trillion Won... 1.6% Decrease
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that the 2024 budget and fund operation plan, totaling KRW 18.5625 trillion, was approved at the National Assembly plenary session on the 21st.
The Ministry of Science and ICT's budget for next year decreased by KRW 306.1 billion (1.6%) from this year's KRW 18.8686 trillion. Compared to the original government proposal of KRW 18.2899 trillion, it increased by KRW 272.6 billion.
By sector, KRW 2.4131 trillion will be invested to maintain a super-gap technological advantage and secure 12 core strategic technologies. KRW 1.1445 trillion will be provided to create opportunities for nurturing global talent and support digital companies' overseas expansion. KRW 2.8427 trillion will be allocated to support the growth of early-career researchers, key research personnel in strategic technology fields, and the production of practical digital talent. KRW 1.3046 trillion will be invested to integrate super-large AI into specialized fields such as law and medicine, as well as the public sector, to provide AI benefits in citizens' daily lives. KRW 4.3813 trillion will be provided to enhance the innovation capabilities of government-funded research institutes and regions, and to support commercialization of research outcomes and startups.
The total government research and development (R&D) budget, including the Ministry of Science and ICT's R&D budget, was finalized at KRW 26.5 trillion. This is KRW 621.7 billion more than the government proposal but represents a 14.7% decrease compared to this year's budget.
Most of the budget was allocated to alleviate employment insecurity concerns in research fields, including students and small and medium-sized enterprise workers. The global R&D budget, which was a contentious issue during the National Assembly review process, was mostly confirmed according to the government proposal.
First, basic research support (including scholarships and research incentives) was increased by KRW 207.8 billion. Considering concerns from the field that stable research execution might be difficult, the budget for ongoing projects was increased by KRW 143 billion, and a new creative research program supporting small-scale research was established with KRW 9.8 billion. The scale of ongoing projects, which had been reduced by about 25% compared to the previous year based on the government proposal, was adjusted to a decrease of around 10%, significantly reducing concerns about workforce restructuring and research fund cuts in the research field.
A new dedicated group research project for postdoctoral researchers (Postdoc) with KRW 45 billion was established to support young and talented researchers in conducting challenging research and growing into global talents. The budget for graduate students was also increased by KRW 10 billion. The ‘Graduate School Presidential Science Scholarship,’ supporting about 100 outstanding science and engineering master's and doctoral students, was newly established, and research incentives for graduate students were expanded to support an additional 900 graduate students. The researcher-led basic research budget, which supports stable research by researchers, was finalized at KRW 2.63 trillion, an increase of KRW 40 billion compared to the previous year.
The budget for stable research support at government-funded research institutes was also expanded by KRW 38.8 billion. For research institutes with a low proportion of institutional funding, the funding was increased mainly for personnel expenses. The ‘Global Top Strategic Research Group’ budget, aimed at removing barriers between research institutes and enhancing innovation capabilities, was confirmed at KRW 100 billion as proposed by the government.
Corporate R&D support was also strengthened by KRW 178.2 billion compared to the government proposal. Although it was significantly reduced during the government budget formulation to prevent subsidy-type R&D support, temporary support for personnel expenses within terminated projects will be provided for projects with concerns about sunk costs and employment insecurity of research personnel.
Reflecting changes after the government proposal was submitted to the National Assembly, the budget for next-generation and foundational technology development was increased by KRW 33.6 billion. Major R&D budgets in various fields were expanded, including the lunar lander development project (KRW 4 billion) that passed the preliminary feasibility study in October, next-generation network (6G) industrial technology development project (KRW 6 billion), and next-generation mobility (K-UAM) technology development.
The budget for building and operating advanced research equipment also increased by KRW 43.4 billion. Additional budgets were allocated mainly for large research equipment such as ultra-high-performance computing infrastructure and service system advancement (KRW 4 billion), multipurpose synchrotron radiation accelerator (KRW 11 billion), heavy ion accelerator (KRW 5.5 billion), new export research reactor (KRW 11 billion), and KSTAR (KRW 3.5 billion).
Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, “The 2024 budget focuses on expanding global R&D in the era of technological hegemony competition and strengthening support for early-career researchers to create a research environment capable of conducting world-class research.” He added, “Since submitting the government proposal, we have listened to the voices from the research field and worked to ensure that students and researchers can conduct research in a more stable environment. With the budget confirmed today, we will continue to ensure that students and researchers face no difficulties in the research field and will keep making institutional improvements.”
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