Assemblyman Cho Incheol Proposes the "Act on the Promotion of Region-Led Science and Technology Innovation"

Supporting the Lee Jaemyung Administration's Regional Balanced Development Policy
Shifting R&D Authority to the Regions...Reforming the Seoul-Centered Structure
"Establishing a Science and Technology Innovation System that Plans and Implements Locally"
Assemblyman Cho: "A Starting Point for Region-Led Science and Technology Innovation and Development"

Assemblyman Jo Incheol

Legislation is being pursued to reform the current structure of national research and development (R&D), which is concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, and to establish a science and technology innovation system led by local regions. It is being evaluated as the first legislative step to institutionally implement, in the field of science and technology, the regional balanced development strategy that the Lee Jaemyung administration has put forward as a key national agenda.

Assemblyman Cho Incheol of the Democratic Party of Korea (Gwangju Seo-gu Gap) announced on the 9th that he had sponsored the “Act on the Promotion of Region-Led Science and Technology Innovation,” which stipulates that local regions themselves establish and implement science and technology innovation strategies, while the central government provides institutional and financial support.

Currently, national R&D investment is excessively concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, and many regions are facing structural problems such as the outflow of young talent and the weakening of their industrial base, as their R&D capabilities are not organically linked with local industries.

In particular, regional R&D policies have remained within a uniform, central government-led project framework, and criticism has continued that there are significant institutional limitations on autonomously pursuing strategic R&D that reflects each region’s industrial, technological, and human resource conditions.

In the absence of clear criteria for the concept and scope of regional R&D, another problem cited is that projects fragmented by ministry and sector are being carried out individually, leading to repeated duplication of similar projects and the dispersion of financial resources. Furthermore, as many regional R&D projects are operated in a structure where they are executed through specialized agencies under central ministries, local governments, which know on-the-ground conditions in their regions best, have in effect been excluded from policy planning and project coordination processes.

As a result, a structure has become entrenched in which local governments share the financial burden but have limited authority and responsibility for the planning and coordination of R&D projects, and R&D outcomes have also shown limitations in being connected to local industries and jobs.

The bill proposed by Assemblyman Cho focuses on institutionalizing a science and technology innovation system in which “regions plan and regions take responsibility” in order to resolve these structural problems. The intent is to extend the Lee Jaemyung administration’s emphasis on balanced growth based on local autonomy and decentralization across the entire spectrum of R&D policy.

The main elements of the bill are as follows: establishing a legal basis for mayors and provincial governors to draw up five-year regional science and technology innovation plans that the central government will support administratively and financially; systematic management of regional R&D projects and region-initiated R&D projects; establishment or designation of dedicated regional science and technology institutions; laying the groundwork for promoting research and development projects across broader economic zones; promoting collaboration among industry, academia, and research institutes within regions and spreading research outcomes locally; and fostering regional science and technology talent while improving local living conditions.

The core of the bill is that it institutionalizes a system in which local regions directly plan and implement R&D projects so that industrial and social problems facing each region can be solved through science and technology. Through this, the plan is to build a virtuous cycle in which R&D outcomes are connected to local industries and jobs.

Assemblyman Cho stated, “As long as the R&D structure remains centered on the Seoul metropolitan area, neither the problem of regional extinction nor the weakening of national competitiveness can be resolved,” adding, “This bill is an institutional foundation to practically realize, in the field of science and technology policy, the regional balanced development strategy being pursued by the Lee Jaemyung administration.”

He went on to say, “Only when regions can independently design and implement their own science and technology innovation strategies will talent remain in the regions, industries grow, and the overall competitiveness of the country be strengthened,” and added, “With this awareness of the problem, we worked meticulously with the Office of Science and Technology Innovation under the Ministry of Science and ICT to prepare the bill, and I hope that the Act on the Promotion of Region-Led Science and Technology Innovation will become the starting point for a genuine transition toward balanced growth.”

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