The South Korean government plans to abolish the preliminary feasibility study, which evaluates the economic feasibility of R&D budgets, and introduce a system to review projects at the inter-ministerial level to prevent overlapping and similar R&D among ministries. The science and technology community has long advocated this move, as the current system overly emphasizes business feasibility and delays the development of original technologies.
According to the science and technology community on Apr. 28, the Korean government intends to unveil the R&D system reform plan at the national financial strategy meeting on the 9th of next month. This announcement comes ten months after President Yoon Suk-yeol criticized the ‘R&D cartel’ in June last year.
The reform aims to eliminate preliminary feasibility studies to expedite the development of future source technologies. Simultaneously, it seeks to integrate project deliberations at the ministerial level to prevent ministries from ‘sharing the budget.’ Additionally, the reorganization aims to address the demands of the scientific community and overhaul the ‘R&D cartel’ initially aimed at by the government. The R&D budget, reduced by 4.6 trillion won from the previous year, is expected to be restored next year.
In June last year, President Yoon highlighted inefficiencies in the country’s R&D system, particularly in terms of budget allocation among ministries. Subsequent efforts to streamline the system resulted in a significantly reduced R&D budget this year, prompting a reaction from the science and technology community.
The preliminary feasibility study, slated for abolition, is currently mandatory for large projects exceeding 50 billion won, such as those involving quantum technology. Critics argue that the lengthy review process hampers global competitiveness in R&D. Furthermore, R&D projects previously allocated to individual ministries by the Ministry of Strategy and Finance will now undergo collaborative review by the ministries. The government aims to fully support large-scale, time-sensitive endeavors rather than dispersing the budget across similar projects.
