[The Editors' Verdict]The Future of Daedeok at the 'Age of Fifty'

The Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone, which has played a key role in the advancement of science and technology in Korea, has reached its 50th anniversary. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s direct visit to Daedeok to celebrate the 50 years highlights the special significance of Daedeok. Having passed the “age of fifty,” Daedeok must continue to serve as the center of South Korea’s scientific and technological development for the next 50 years to come.

The reality is harsh. The immediate comparison is with Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park. Hsinchu Science Park began later than Daedeok, starting in 1980. The status of Hsinchu Science Park, just over forty years old, is recognized as one of the top in the world. Currently, Hsinchu Science Park’s position as an industry-academia cluster rivals that of Silicon Valley in the United States. While semiconductor companies have disappeared from Silicon Valley, major semiconductor companies such as TSMC, UMC, and MediaTek are based in Hsinchu Science Park.

The success of Hsinchu Science Park owes much to industry-academia cooperation, an area where it holds an advantage over Daedeok. Professor Moon Ik-jun of the China Humanities and Social Sciences Research Institute at Kookmin University identified four key factors for Hsinchu Science Park’s success in his 2009 report, “Analysis of Innovation Factors of Taiwan’s Hsinchu Science Park and the Influence of China.” First is the policy of the Taiwanese government. Second is the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), a government-funded research institute. Up to this point, there is little difference from our Daedeok. The third and fourth factors differ. Professor Moon pointed to National Tsing Hua University and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, both located in Hsinchu City. The final factor is the presence of companies capable of industry-academia collaboration. The research institutes and companies located in Hsinchu Science Park serve as an extension of classrooms for students and as a foundation for new product development for companies. The strong linkage between schools, research institutes, and companies promotes the growth of the research park.

A semiconductor expert who has experience at Hsinchu Science Park and currently works at Daedeok expressed regret, saying that the organic relationship between schools, research institutes, and companies in Hsinchu makes it difficult to catch up. He argued that the physical infrastructure allowing students and researchers at government-funded institutes to easily interact with private companies enables both academic and industrial growth simultaneously. This expert has deeply experienced what Daedeok lacks. The companies located within the park have grown into global enterprises leading Taiwan’s economy.

The competition to foster science clusters has spread to China. In March, the Chinese Communist Party established the Central Science and Technology Commission, with President Xi Jinping directly overseeing the development of core technologies. Since the intensification of the US-China technological conflict, President Xi has emphasized scientific and technological self-reliance and securing core technologies. With both Taiwan and China emphasizing the development of fundamental scientific technologies, technological competition in the Northeast Asia region is intensifying.

In his congratulatory speech on Daedeok’s 50th anniversary, President Yoon left open the possibility of reversing the reduction in research and development funding and even increasing it. Even if research and development funding is restored to previous levels, the Korean scientific community has already lost several months. The Ministry of Science and ICT must more rigorously identify what the problems are and what support is needed, and responsibly provide the designated support to take charge of the future of Korean science. This is the task left by the recent controversy over research funding cuts.

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