Cho Incheol Submits Five Comprehensive Bills on Special Conflict-of-Interest Act for Researchers at Government-Funded Institutes and Science and Technology Institutes

Resolving Conflicts in Laws and Systems That Hinder the Dissemination of Research Outcomes
"R&D Must Lead to Industry and Job Creation"

Jo Incheol, member of the National Assembly

Five so-called special bills on conflict-of-interest rules for researchers at government-funded research institutes and the four major institutes of science and technology, which aim to rationally overhaul conflict-of-interest regulations that have constrained researchers' startup and technology transfer activities, have been introduced in the National Assembly. These bills are drawing attention as legislation that will institutionally support President Lee Jaemyung's state agenda of linking research and development (R&D) outcomes to industry and job creation.

Cho Incheol, Member of the National Assembly from Gwangju Seo-gu Gap of the Democratic Party of Korea, announced on the 25th that he had sponsored five comprehensive amendment bills. These bills would newly establish special provisions under the Public Service Ethics Act on the Prevention of Conflict of Interest (Conflict of Interest Prevention Act) within the Act on the Establishment, Operation and Fostering of Government-Funded Science and Technology Research Institutes (Government-Funded Research Institutes Act) and the individual acts governing each institute of science and technology, including the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology Act, in order to promote the dissemination of research achievements of government-funded research institutes and the four major institutes of science and technology.

Recently, the global academic journal Nature assessed Korea by saying that "although it invests heavily in science, the results are surprisingly modest."

As of 2022, Korea's R&D investment-to-GDP ratio stood at 5.2%, the second highest in the world, but its ranking in research performance was only eighth. Analysts say that the industrialization and social dissemination of research outcomes are not being sufficiently achieved.

In fact, since the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act came into force in 2022, the number of startups originating from government-funded research institutes fell from 62 in 2020 to 25 in 2024, dropping to less than half. The number of reviews for equity investment in research-based companies has also declined sharply, raising concerns that deep-tech-based researcher startups are being stifled.

The current Conflict of Interest Prevention Act does not sufficiently reflect the dual status and particularity of researchers at government-funded research institutes and institutes of science and technology, who are both "researchers" and "public officials" affiliated with public institutions. Critics point out that the system has become rigid in a way that constrains technology transfer and startup activities, as researchers are classified as having a private interest when they hold equity above a certain threshold in a startup, and as broad restrictions on outside activities related to their official duties are applied.

Some institutions are operating defensive internal rules, such as requiring returning employees on startup leave to dispose of their equity in the startup upon reinstatement. As a result, there have been cases where researchers either give up starting a company or choose to resign instead of returning to their institution.

Issues of fairness have also been raised.

Researchers at government-funded research institutes and professors at the four major institutes of science and technology are classified as "public officials" under the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act, whereas researchers at private universities are not subject to the Act. This creates regulatory discrepancies even when they engage in the same activities to disseminate research outcomes. Critics argue that such institutional imbalance undermines the willingness of researchers at public research institutions to engage in startups and technology transfer, thereby negatively affecting the national innovation ecosystem as a whole.

The five amendment bills focus on institutionally guaranteeing the utilization and dissemination of research outcomes while maintaining the basic principles of public service ethics. They do so by establishing special provisions for researchers at government-funded research institutes and the four major institutes of science and technology, including: explicitly excluding them from being treated as having a private interest under the Conflict of Interest Prevention Act solely due to equity ownership above a certain threshold, and clearly allowing outside activities related to their official duties when such activities are for the dissemination of research outcomes.

These measures give concrete legislative form to the intent of state agenda item 28-3 of the Lee Jaemyung administration, "Establishing a system for disseminating government R&D outcomes and strengthening support for deep-tech laboratory startups." They are also in line with the broader direction of recognizing special conflict-of-interest rules for government-funded research institutes and institutes of science and technology and improving systems that support researcher startups.

Cho Incheol said, "Researchers at government-funded research institutes and the four major institutes of science and technology are public officials and, at the same time, they stand at the forefront of national innovation," adding, "Excessively restricting startups and technology commercialization simply because of their status as public officials is a structural contradiction that blocks the dissemination of national research outcomes."

He went on to stress, "Since the Lee Jaemyung administration has set the industrialization of R&D outcomes and the strengthening of deep-tech startups as a state agenda, legal and institutional reforms to support this must necessarily follow."