The Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT, Minister Jong Ho Lee) and KISTEP held the '2022 National R&D Performance Evaluation Forum' at The-K Hotel in Seoul on December 14.

The 'National R&D Performance Evaluation Forum' aimed to discuss the future-oriented directions of the performance evaluation system in the changing national R&D environment, such as the emergence of mission-oriented R&D that assigns tasks to national R&D in response to global challenges.

The forum included opening remarks by Young Chang Joo, Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation of MSIT, a presentation by Kyoung-mi Park, Deputy Director at the Performance Evaluation Policy Division of MSIT, Professor Joonmo Ahn of Korea University, and a panel discussion chaired by KISTEP President Byung-Seon Jeong.

▲ Young Chang Joo, Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation of MSIT

The Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation of MSIT, Young Chang Joo, stated in his opening remarks, “To realize the mission, it is important not only to invest in strategic R&D based on a pan-ministerial roadmap, but also to have a performance evaluation and management system that supports the mission as much as possible with limited financial resources.” He said, “it is time for the transition to national R&D performance evaluation system that is in line with strategic enhancement of national R&D and mission-oriented R&D.” He added, “the key task is to evaluate how R&D outcome contributed to the completion of mission and problem resolution so we expect that national R&D will contribute significantly to overcoming technical hegemony competition and realization of carbon neutrality by reshaping the R&D performance evaluation into mission-oriented evaluation system.”

▲ Deputy Director Kyoung-mi Park of Performance Evaluation Policy Division of MSIT

In the following presentation under the theme of ‘national R&D performance evaluation system and best practices (focusing on program evaluation), Deputy Director Kyoung-mi Park of Performance Evaluation Policy Division of MSIT introduced △ policy environment for national R&D, △ national R&D performance evaluation system, △ performance evaluation system for each stage of R&D project and explained △ best practices.

In her presentation, Deputy Director Kyoung-mi Park stressed, “evaluation is important to set the R&D objectives strategically, develop technology through optimal route and support the development of critical technology. Internally, it is time to establish the evaluation system that supports the policy direction of quantitative investment expansion for S&T R&D.”

She introduced 2022 performance evaluation system and covered major points in the system such as △ establishment of detailed strategy to implement national R&D programs, △ improvement of autonomy and responsibility of ministries, △ systemization of performance management upon and after program completion and △ disclosure of performance evaluation results and strengthening feedback. She also explained details about the topics such as ‘changes in the evaluation system throughout the entire life cycle of the national R&D program’, ‘strategic plan’, ‘interim evaluation’, ‘performance management utilization plan and effectiveness analysis’, ‘linkage to mission-oriented R&D’ and ‘application of evaluation for entire life cycle of mission-oriented R&D’.

Lastly, Deputy Director Park explained 2022 strategic plan for national R&D program, best practices for interim evaluation, performance management utilization plan and best practice of effectiveness analysis.

▲ Professor Joonmo Ahn of Korea University

The second presentation was made by Professor Joonmo Ahn of Korea University on the theme of ‘Future Direction for Improving Performance Evaluation (Focusing on Mission-oriented R&D)’.

Prof. Joonmo Ahn pointed out the strengthening of autonomy of ministries and researchers and introduction of bottom-up evaluation indicator system where research execution body sets performance goals as the achievements in the performance evaluation system improvement. Then he explained the importance of 12 national strategic technologies before making presentation on the importance of performance evaluation.

In his presentation, professor Ahn analyzed the issues related to divided performance evaluation system such as △ linkage between individual evaluations, △ systematization and flexibility of missions, △ strengthening improvement-oriented evaluation element, △ evaluation on various models, △ mission-oriented R&D evaluation indicators and △ feedback on performance incentive.

In conclusion, Prof. Ahn made a proposal on the direction of designing new performance evaluation system. “First, it is necessary to look at the entire cycle of evaluation and detailed components from new perspective. Second, it is necessary to design performance evaluation in line with mission-oriented R&D program. Third, hybrid approach where existing systems such as roadmap, in-depth evaluation, strategic plan and evaluation on institutions are utilized comprehensively. Fourth, efforts should be made to legislate the new mission-oriented R&D evaluation system by conducing in-depth review on Act on the Performance Evaluation and Management of National Research and Development Programs and its enforcement decree. Finally, it is necessary to take scientific approach for performance evaluation system such as establishment of new performance evaluation indicator system based on data utilizing AI, etc.”

▲ Byung-Seon Jeong, President of KISTEP

▲ Panel Discussion (Dr. Kihyun Ahn, Executive Director of Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), Dr. Soo-Jeong Park, Vice President/Chief Medical & Science Officer of LegoChem Biosciences, Dr. Woo-Hyun Chang, Executive Director, Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF))

▲ Panel Discussion(Dr. Mijung Um, Senior Research Fellow, Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Dr. Donghoon Oh, MD, Office of Strategic R&D Planning, Daehyun Oh, Director General, Perfomance Evaluation Policy Bureau, MSIT)

Byung-Seon Jeong, President of KISTEP, led the panel discussion with the participation of Dr. Kihyun Ahn, Executive Director of Korea Semiconductor Industry Association (KSIA), Dr. Soo-Jeong Park, Vice President/Chief Medical & Science Officer of LegoChem Biosciences, Dr. Woo-Hyun Chang, Executive Director of Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF), Dr. Mijung Um, Senior Research Fellow of Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Dr. Donghoon Oh, MD of Office of Strategic R&D Planning, Professor Joonmo Ahn of Korea University and Daehyun Oh, Director General of Performance Evaluation Policy Bureau of MSIT to share views on national R&D performance evaluation from the perspective of industry, academia, and research.