Articles

Success and Challenges in Managing R&D Policy Performance in South Korea

Sungman Hong, Jin-Wook Choi

Abstract

The strenuous R&D investments of the government have helped Korea to transform the country, which previously acquired and imitated foreign technologies, towards a more technologically advanced economy. Analyses of S&T journal publications and patents in conjunction with R&D inputs show that Korea’s R&D activities in which the government is thought to be a major actor seemed to have been successful in terms of the increasing rate and cost-effectiveness when compared with the U.S. and Japan. Among others, key driving forces of this success include the strong leadership of presidents who have envisioned national S&T policies; clear-cut policy goals, planning and programs set out by ministries and agencies; increasing capabilities of corporate R&D institutes; and a newly launched R&D performance management system. Yet there are some challenges that the current R&D performance management system has to grapple with to make the system more effective?strengthening the NSTC’s strategic planning function; shifting from an output- to outcome-oriented R&D review, analysis and evaluation system; and playing a de facto policy coordination and program adjustment role of the NSTC.

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