Presidential Office: "Next Year's R&D Budget at an All-Time High... Breakthrough Improvements in Preliminary Feasibility Studies"

Sangwook Park, Chief of Science and Technology, "Korea to Board New High-Speed Track for R&D"
Competitiveness Up with Two-Track Reform and Increase

Sangwook Park, Chief of Science and Technology at the Presidential Office, is giving a briefing on the direction of reform for research and development (R&D) support at the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul, on the 3rd.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Office announced on the 2nd that it will raise next year’s research and development (R&D) budget to an all-time high level and drastically improve the preliminary feasibility study process, which hinders timeliness, to transform R&D into truly effective R&D. Since there is sufficient consensus among ministries on the need to increase the R&D budget, the plan is to pursue a two-track approach combining structural adjustments and budget increases simultaneously.

Park Sang-wook, Senior Secretary for Science and Technology, said at a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the same day, “We will enable Korean R&D to switch from the existing track to a new high-speed line.” He added, "It is difficult to say that the reform of the government’s R&D support system is complete, but in the face of unprecedentedly rapid technological changes as the world races in technology competition, we cannot just focus on reform efforts alone. While carrying out reforms, we also intend to significantly increase next year’s R&D budget."

In particular, Park explained that the increase in next year’s R&D budget is not merely a restoration of the previously cut budget, as some have expressed concerns. A senior official from the Presidential Office also conveyed the atmosphere, saying, “There is an unprecedented consensus on the level targeted by President Yoon, economic ministries, and the Innovation Headquarters.” However, Park added, “We will conduct demand surveys from the ministries that require R&D projects, and there are parts of existing projects that need restructuring. Since we need to comprehensively calculate projects that will be cut and new projects that will be added, it will take a few more months to come up with specific figures.”

The government plans to first drastically improve the R&D preliminary feasibility study process so that funding can be provided immediately when research funds are needed. This reflects criticism that the R&D preliminary feasibility study sometimes hinders the timeliness of R&D. A Presidential Office official explained, “Recently, the government has applied exemptions from preliminary feasibility studies for essential missions or research, and we can actively utilize this or relax the requirements for the study. We are also open to possibilities such as relaxing the upper limit on government financial input or even more revolutionary measures.” Additionally, the plan is to invest 1 trillion won in innovation-challenge-type R&D fields and increase government R&D budgets in these areas to 5% by 2027.

Regarding the continued strong opposition from the science and technology community to R&D budget cuts, the official said, “Many adjustments have been made through the dedicated and sacrificial cooperation of researchers, and it is true that this has caused pain to researchers. Even if there are unfinished reform tasks, next year’s significant budget increase is an urgent and unavoidable situation. We will continue the work to make R&D truly R&D while pursuing a two-track approach of budget increases and reforms in science and technology policy.”