R&D Investment
The Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning announced on March 30 that South Korea has the highest ratio of R&D investment to GDP in the world. Specifically, the ratio is currently at 4.29% for South Korea while those of Israel and Japan are 4.11% and 3.58%, respectively.
Still, the amount of South Korea’s cumulative R&D investment falls much below those of advanced economies. This is because South Korea has a short history of R&D investment whereas the United States, Japan and the like have invested more than 2% of their GDPs in R&D since as early as the 1970s.
At present, the amount of South Korea’s cumulative R&D investment is at around US$60.5 billion while that of the United States exceeds US$400 billion and that of China is more than US$200 billion. The ministry advised that South Korea invest more in R&D in a consistent manner.
In the meantime, South Korea is continuing to show improvements when it comes to scientific and technological outcomes in the form of science articles, patents, technology exports and the like. For example, the number of highly cited papers, which is a yardstick for the evaluation of science paper quality, tripled for the past 10 years.