[Square] Competition in Advanced Strategic Technologies, Challenging R&D as the Solution

Kyungsoo Lee, Director General of the Science and Technology Innovation Bureau, Ministry of Science and ICT

There is a phrase symbolizing the strategic competition between the U.S. and China called the "Thucydides Trap." It compares the conflict between the two countries to the war between Athens, a rising power in ancient Greece, and Sparta, the established hegemon, referring to the tension arising as China’s rise threatens the status of the existing hegemon, the United States. The conflict triggered by the U.S.-China trade war has recently spread to a competition for technological supremacy in fields such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum technology, 5G/6G, and biohealth. To maintain technological hegemony, the U.S. passed the "Endless Frontier Act," part of the Innovation Competition Act, to expand research and development (R&D) investment in advanced industries, while China has announced increased investments centered on seven key technologies including AI, quantum, and space, counterattacking with a strong strategy for technological self-reliance.

The intensifying competition for technological supremacy brings to mind the importance of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) projects, which symbolize challenging research. DARPA, a defense R&D agency under the U.S. Department of Defense, was established in 1958 after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in 1957, creating a sense of crisis. Many advanced strategic technologies originated from DARPA projects, from ARPAnet, the precursor to the internet, to AI voice recognition technology Siri, and more recently, mRNA vaccines. Additionally, quantum cryptography communication technology has been researched since the 2000s, and the U.S. currently holds the world’s leading technology in this field.

The success of DARPA is attributed to a differentiated research support system that grants project managers (PMs) full authority to continuously discover and select innovative ideas and encourages challenges through various methods such as competitions for problem-solving, differing from traditional R&D approaches. Inspired by DARPA’s success, this innovative R&D model has spread beyond the U.S. in areas like information technology and climate change, and recently, major technological powers such as Japan (Moonshot Program) and Germany (SPRIN-D) have introduced customized versions of this system.

South Korea has steadily increased R&D investment, achieving remarkable results in both quantity and quality of research, ranking 4th worldwide in international patent applications and 12th in SCI papers. However, there are criticisms that the creation of innovative technologies with significant industrial and security impact is insufficient. In the field, the main reasons cited include that the existing planning, management, and evaluation methods tend to focus on research with a high likelihood of success rather than challenging research, and that rigid research systems make it difficult to change goals when the environment shifts. For R&D aimed at creating innovative technologies that can change the world, it is necessary to develop and apply a new R&D system that accelerates "challenge" in addition to the existing system focused on "success."

As a first step to activate challenging R&D, the government amended the Framework Act on Science and Technology in December last year. It is currently revising enforcement ordinances to introduce flexible research management systems such as competitive and prize-based R&D and allowing goal modifications (Moving Target). Furthermore, to secure advanced strategic technologies, the government plans to support the establishment of a "DARPA-style" research support system at the inter-ministerial level.

In the global competition to dominate technological hegemony, South Korea’s strongest weapon for survival is ultimately advanced strategic technology, and the need for challenging R&D to secure this is growing stronger. The Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters will make every effort to activate challenging R&D at the inter-ministerial level through the establishment of a "Korean-style DARPA," thereby fostering innovative technologies with significant impact on national survival and security.

Kyungsoo Lee, Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters, Ministry of Science and ICT

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