Park Inkyu, Director-General of Science and Technology Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, announced that, in addition to the existing principles of selection and concentration, as well as scaling up in the allocation of research and development (R&D) budgets, diversity, stability, and autonomy will also be ensured.
In a post titled "Diversity, Autonomy, and Stability" on his social networking service (SNS) account the previous night, Park stated, "Even if we maintain the existing R&D budget support philosophy of 'selection,' 'concentration,' and 'scaling up' for the sake of large trees, the new keywords of 'diversity,' 'stability,' and 'autonomy' for the sake of the forest must also be considered in budget allocation."
Park, who has a background as a particle physics researcher, was appointed Director-General of the Innovation Headquarters on July 13. The Innovation Headquarters serves as the control tower for science and technology policy execution, exercising authority over the review and coordination of national R&D project budgets and evaluating research outcomes.
In his post, Park pointed out, "Two years ago, the sudden decision to cut R&D budgets threw the science and technology community into confusion." He added, "Not everyone was equally affected; many new R&D projects were created, and many existing projects were expanded in scale."
Park went on to say, "From the perspective of setting the budget, it is only natural to select outstanding researchers, focus on national industrial strategic fields, and scale up research funding to remain internationally competitive, all to achieve the greatest results with limited resources." However, he emphasized, "Consideration must also be given to nurturing the ecosystem as a whole."
He used an analogy, saying, "If, for the sake of selection and concentration, we leave only 12 types of large trees and fail to water the diverse small saplings and flowers that make up the ecosystem beneath their shade, even the large trees will eventually die." He referred to the reduction in the number of projects in basic science and the government-led selection of projects as factors that have undermined diversity and stability.
Park stated, "Those hit hardest by the budget cuts were researchers and groups engaged in basic science research, as well as small and medium-sized enterprises involved in small-scale technology development." He added, "Their research topics are diverse, and while their funding may be small, stable and continuous investment is often more important. In addition, the way research is conducted and research funds are managed also needs to move beyond existing frameworks to ensure greater autonomy."
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