National R&D Spending
Korea’s research and development (R&D) spending was the sixth highest in the world in 2012, up 11.1 percent from a year ago.
According to a report unveiled on December 10 by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, the country’s combined R&D spending of government, research institutes, universities, and companies reached 55.45 trillion won (US$49.23 billion) in 2012, up 5.56 trillion won from the previous year.
R&D spending was the sixth largest worldwide, and the ratio of its spending to gross domestic product (GDP) was the second highest at 4.36 percent, following Israel. The rankings were based on data compiled by the OECD in June.
The local private sector spent 41.44 trillion won (US$39.39 billion) for R&D last year, accounting for 74.7 percent of the total, while the public sector’s spending amounted to 13.82 trillion won (US$13.14 billion) at 24.9 percent. The rest came from foreign countries.