The colloquium was prepared to discuss the future policies of Government Research Institutes (GRI), one of the major pillars of National Innovation System (NIS), to review performances and related policies, and to secure technology competitiveness.


KISTEP held the 7th NIS Policy Colloquium with the theme of “How can we design the future of Government Research Institutes?” on 29th October (Tuesday).

 
 

 
  
▲ Sang-seon Kim (President, KISTEP)

 

Government Research Institutes (GRI) have played an important role in leading S&T development and national competitiveness of Korea, however, there have been questions raised on their operation methods as discussions on re-organizing missions were repeated so far. In this circumstance, the colloquium was prepared to review fundamental issues and policy directions for Government Research Institutes to fulfill their new roles and missions, and to develop operation methods to realize them.
 
  
Presentations consisted of (1) The current status of Government Research Institutes from on-site view (Byeong-Cheol Choi, Managing Committee of Korea Technology Innovation Society, Senior Researcher of Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institutes), (2) Major issues of Government Research Institutes and suggestions for designing future policies (Seok-Ho Son, Policy Advisor, Research Institute of S&T Innovation and Strategy, KISTEP) and panel discussion followed.
 
 
 

 
▲ Byeong-Cheol Choi (Managing Committee of Korea Technology Innovation Society, Senior Researcher of Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institutes)

 

  
During the presentation, Dr. Choi pointed the expectation and reality of Government Research Institutes as what is public R&D that people want, whether systems for GRI performances are operating well, how government should manage GRI, and whether research environments are productive and animated enough. Moreover, he said that it is required for GRI to create autonomous environment for various experimental thinking rather than standardized management by fairness, and to arrange comprehensive strategies in national innovation system level rather than separate policies in budget, HR, evaluation, R&D administrative to meet the expectations.

 

 

 

▲ Seok-Ho Son (Policy Advisor, Research Institute of S&T Innovation and Strategy, KISTEP)

 
 
Policy advisor Son reviewed what are the crucial issues repetitively coming up for last 20 years, and what problems can be occurred from those during his presentation. Then he emphasized the need of great compromise in the society for setting future roles and determining missions, and suggested changes in the way of budget allocation to develop adventurous R&D, and management directions of human resources to foster national S&T leaders. Lastly, he asserted that GRI policy was ‘efficiency and growth’-centered in the past, however, the policy should be designed for the value of ‘adventure and trust’ in the future, over the present’s ‘autonomy and responsibility.’


 

 

▲ Photo from NIS Policy Colloquium
 

 

 
▲ Open discussion of NIS Policy Colloquium
 

The panel discussion was led by Jang-Jae Lee (Director, Research Institute of S&T Innovation and Strategy, KISTEP), and with 7 panels of ▲Seok-Jin Yoon (Vise President, Korea Institute of Science and Technology), ▲Heung Deug Hong (Professor, Kangwon National University), ▲Min Hyung Lee (Senior Researcher, Science and Technology Policy Institute), ▲Jaeho Hyun (CEO, Technovation Partners), ▲Chunho Oh (Senior Journalist, The Korea Economic Daily), ▲ Pill Sung Kim (Director, Policy Development Office, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology), and ▲ Sung-il Han (Head, Research Institute Support Team, Ministry of Science and ICT).
 

President Sang-seon Kim said that “Affection and interest are desperate for Government Research Institutes to act the main role in S&T innovation again.” Then he clarified that “Through this colloquium, Government Research Institutes are expected to find its roles and the ways forward for the national innovation system, and to achieve a breakthrough in the nation’s economic growth that has recently reached its limits.”
 

 

▲ Photo from NIS Policy Colloquium