Research Fund Recovery Rate 2%... Training Experts for Practical Use of 'Money-Eating Hippo' Public R&D

Only 1.73% Research Fund Recovery Rate as of 2019
New Professional Workforce Programs Established and Supported in 6 Graduate Schools across 5 Regions

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Public research and development, which involves tens of trillions of won annually, is often called a "money-eating hippo" due to its poor cost-effectiveness, with a recovery rate of only 2%. The government is launching efforts to cultivate specialized personnel to activate the practical application of public research and development outcomes.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 9th that it will newly promote the "Regional Science and Technology Outcome Practical Application Support Project" this year, which supports the establishment and operation of graduate schools (STAR-Academy) for fostering specialized personnel in the practical application of science and technology outcomes and creating a regional science and technology practical application ecosystem. The goal is to cultivate technology practical application experts equipped with an understanding of science and technology practical application policies, as well as specialized knowledge and capabilities in technology transfer, commercialization, and entrepreneurship.

This project is being promoted to improve the reality where the enormous public research outcomes, supported by tens of trillions of won in public funds annually, remain sluggish in actual commercialization and are criticized as a "budget-eating hippo." In fact, the research and development expenses of public research institutions showed a rapid increase trend, reaching 13.10339 trillion won in 2019, nearly 4 trillion won more than in 2011. On the other hand, the utilization rate is extremely low. The income earned by public research institutions from transferring technologies developed through research and development to the private sector is only about 2% of the input amount. In 2019, 13.10339 trillion won was spent on research expenses, but technology transfer income was only 227.314 billion won, recovering just 1.73%.

The government decided to cultivate specialized personnel to resolve obstacles to the practical application of public research outcomes, such as the lack of expertise among technology brokerage organizations (public and private) personnel and disparities in innovation capabilities for technology practical application between regions. To this end, six "Graduate Schools of Science and Technology Practical Application" will be selected in five regions nationwide and supported for the next six years. A total of 2.8 billion won will be supported this year alone for six graduate schools in five regions: Seoul-Gyeongin, Chungcheong, Honam-Jeju, Daegyeong-Gangwon, and Dongnam.

In the first year, up to 60 students will be selected and educated, and from the second year, about 240 master's and doctoral specialized personnel will be produced annually. Each graduate school will establish a "Department of Science and Technology Practical Application" and operate about three major courses (science and technology practical application policy, practice, and entrepreneurship). Specialized programs necessary to cultivate theoretical and practical capabilities in overall science and technology practical application will be newly developed, and curricula will be organized to enable students to acquire the entire process of technology practical application from basic and original research outcomes. In particular, the "Technology Entrepreneurship Major" plans to nurture core talents equipped with knowledge and capabilities for high value-added technology (research outcome)-based startups, promote specialized university technology entrepreneurship, and foster prospective startup representatives.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has been recruiting host graduate schools from the 28th of last month until the 2nd of next month. An online project briefing session will be held on the morning of the 10th.

Kwon Seok-min, Director of Science and Technology Job Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "We will actively support the expansion of 'specialized personnel in science and technology practical application' tailored to regional science and technology characteristics and ecosystem conditions by region, so that it can contribute to the qualitative growth of utilization and dissemination of public research outcomes."

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