186,000 R&D Professionals Employed,
Average Sales per Company at 2.26 Billion Won
Ministry of Science and ICT Announces Results of the 2024 Research Industry Survey
The domestic research industry comprises 19,797 companies and approximately 186,000 research and development personnel, generating annual sales of 27.5 trillion won (with an average of 2.26 billion won per company).
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the results of the "2024 Research Industry Survey" on April 30, which was conducted to assess the current status and conditions of the domestic research industry.
This survey was designated as national official statistics in June last year and was conducted and published for the first time. The survey covers the 2023 status of domestic research industry companies, including: sales and business conditions (such as domestic and overseas sales in the research industry sector), workforce status (by education, experience, and age), and investment and R&D status (such as the scale of R&D expenditures and the proportion of R&D funding sources).
According to the Research Industry Promotion Act, the research industry is an interlinked sector that supports all stages of research and development (R&D) activities. It provides services such as R&D strategy formulation, design and analysis, testing and analysis, prototype production, and the development and supply of research equipment and materials, thereby contributing to the creation, utilization, and dissemination of research outcomes.
According to the survey results, there are 19,797 research industry companies in Korea, with total sales of 27.5 trillion won. Of this, domestic sales account for 25.4 trillion won (92.2%) and overseas sales for 2.1 trillion won (7.8%). By sub-sector, sales were highest in contract research (17.2 trillion won), followed by research materials (7.6 trillion won), research management (1.59 trillion won), and research equipment (1.13 trillion won). The average sales per research industry company were 2.26 billion won.
Research and development expenditures by research industry companies amounted to 5.3 trillion won, accounting for 4.5% of Korea's total R&D expenditure (119.074 trillion won as of 2023). By source of funding, 2.7 trillion won came from companies' own funds, 1.9 trillion won from government sources, and 0.4 trillion won from private sources. The ratio of R&D investment to sales was 11.8%, which is higher than the average R&D investment ratio for Korean companies overall, which was 3.55% in 2023.
The total number of R&D personnel in the research industry sector was approximately 186,000. By sub-sector, contract research accounted for about 135,000, research materials for about 26,000, research management for about 14,000, and research equipment for about 9,500. The average number of R&D personnel per research industry company was 9.4, which is higher than the average number of R&D personnel per Korean company overall, which was 9.05 in 2023.
Among all employees in the research industry sector, those with a bachelor's degree accounted for 66.7% (124,000 people), those with a master's degree for 21.3% (39,000 people), and those with a doctoral degree for 5.1% (9,000 people). Compared to all Korean companies (where master's degree holders account for 6.0% and doctoral degree holders for 2.1%), the proportion of employees with master's and doctoral degrees is higher in the research industry sector.
Research industry companies identified the following as necessary for technology development related to the research industry: securing specialized personnel (52.5%), alleviating the burden of initial investment costs (43.5%), and enhancing corporate technological competitiveness (43.0%). In terms of management and sales, they cited the impact of economic fluctuations (57.2%) and difficulties in developing sales channels (56.7%) as challenges.
Lee Eunyeong, Director of Research Outcomes Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "With the designation of the Research Industry Survey as national official statistics, we will use timely and reliable annual surveys as a reference to establish field-based policies for promoting the domestic research industry."
The results of the 2024 Research Industry Survey can be found on the websites of the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Korea Research Industry Association, and the national statistics portal.
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