Technology Commercialization R&D Projects Exempted from "3 Principal Investigators, 5 Participants" Rule

Ministry of Science and ICT Improves Regulations
to Promote Researchers' Startups and Commercialization

The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided to exempt technology commercialization research and development (R&D) projects from the "3 Principal Investigators, 5 Participants" regulation.

The "3 Principal Investigators, 5 Participants" rule is a system that limits the number of national R&D projects a researcher can participate in simultaneously. Principal investigators can lead up to three projects, and participants can be involved in up to five projects. The purpose is to prevent poor research quality due to excessive project involvement and to enhance research focus.

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However, there have been ongoing concerns in the research field that this regulation makes it difficult to pursue technology startups or follow-up commercialization R&D projects. In response, at the 75th meeting of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council's Operations Committee held on October 22, the Ministry of Science and ICT reviewed and approved the "2026 National R&D Simultaneous Project Exemption Plan," newly including technology commercialization-related projects as exceptions to the rule.

The Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "Unlike pure academic research, technology commercialization projects require collaboration with various organizations and companies for technology transfer, attracting investment, and prototype production, so a certain level of flexibility is necessary. From now on, projects with clear commercialization or startup objectives, as specified in each ministry's business plan, can be exempted from the '3 Principal Investigators, 5 Participants' regulation."

With this change, an institutional foundation has been established to enable researchers to quickly commercialize technologies developed in the laboratory and to strengthen connections with industry.

Meanwhile, aside from these technology commercialization projects, the Ministry of Science and ICT has already recognized small-scale projects with an average annual research budget of 60 million won or less, as well as cases where multiple ministries or specialized agencies each sign separate agreements for the same project, as exceptions since 2022.

Park Inkyu, Director of the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters, stated, "While maintaining an environment that allows researchers to focus, we have paved the way for research outcomes to spread quickly to the market. We expect that the speed at which outstanding technologies are commercialized into products and services will increase significantly."

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