6 Trillion Invested in Regional Science and Technology Promotion... Local Government Funding Accounts for Less Than Half

Ministry of Science and ICT Approves 2021 Implementation Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] A total budget of 6.0411 trillion KRW will be invested this year to promote regional science and technology. Among this, the proportion of local government funds accounted for only 41.6% of the total, maintaining less than half.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 15th that the 2020 performance and 2021 implementation plan of the Comprehensive Plan for Regional Science and Technology Promotion were approved through the Regional Science and Technology Promotion Council.

The total budget supported by the government and 17 local governments for regional science and technology promotion this year is 6.0411 trillion KRW, which is a 5.5% increase compared to 5.7253 trillion KRW in 2020.

By funding source, national funds amount to 2.9795 trillion KRW (49.3%), local funds 2.5142 trillion KRW (41.6%), and other private sectors 547.3 billion KRW (9.1%). Local government funds increased by 10.5% compared to last year.

The average support scale of the 17 local governments is 355.4 billion KRW, with Gwangju Metropolitan City at 572.8 billion KRW, Jeollabuk-do at 553.6 billion KRW, and Daegu Metropolitan City at 518.1 billion KRW ranking high. Conversely, Sejong (57 billion KRW), Incheon (85.3 billion KRW), Jeju (168.1 billion KRW), Gyeonggi (196.5 billion KRW), and Gangwon (207.2 billion KRW) were in the lower ranks.

By key promotion tasks, investment to secure the technological capabilities of local companies (1.4362 trillion KRW) and support for the advancement of regional innovation clusters (1.4502 trillion KRW) accounted for a large portion.

Among these, the budget for expanding local governments' R&D planning and evaluation capabilities increased by 39.2%, from 130.7 billion KRW to 180.9 billion KRW. Investment to strengthen the role of regional public institutions and civil society in regional innovation increased by 38.1%, from 710.9 billion KRW to 992.9 billion KRW.

By project type, 2.1771 trillion KRW was spent on building regional science and technology infrastructure, accounting for 36%. Corporate support and technology transfer received 1.3695 trillion KRW (22.7%), and technology development used 1.3649 trillion KRW (22.6%).

Meanwhile, last year's support performance was 5.7253 trillion KRW, an increase of about 22.9% compared to 4.6601 trillion KRW in 2019.

The Ministry of Science and ICT establishes the Comprehensive Plan for Regional Science and Technology Promotion every five years according to the Framework Act on Science and Technology, and annually collects the previous year's support performance and the current year's support plan from local governments to formulate implementation plans.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.