A study on the state of international researchers conducting international collaborative R&D in South Korea

Rapidly developing and converging S&T promotes collaborative research to outsource R&D resources. Globalized R&D, conducting R&D with other countries, is essential to secure R&D resources from abroad.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the state of international R&D projects in South Korea, by focusing on international researchers. National R&D data such as projects and researchers was used, provided by National Science and Technology Information Service (NTIS). The subjects are researchers from collaborative or commissioned projects conducted in the last five years (2012-2016). It was examined by ministries, countries, research performers, and 6T.

In 2016, international researchers participated in less than 1, 000 collaborative or commissioned projects, which is a very a small proportion of total number of national R&D projects. Except in 2014, the number of collaborative research increased then the previous year, and 14.7% was increased in 2016. Commissioned projects also increased when comparing to the previous year. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy managed the international R&D projects the most, followed by the Ministry of Science and ICT. The U.S. most actively collaborated with Korean R&D projects. Public institutes and government funded research institutes collaborated mostly with Germany, while the ministries, large enterprise, and universities mostly consigned to the U.S. International collaborative R&D projects were conducted in the four technology domains of 6T, IT, ET, NT, and ST with U.S, whereas France collaborated in CT R&D. Commissioned projects with the U.S. were conducted in BT, ET, IT, and NT, while the projects were conducted in BT, ET, IT with China.

To follow the trend of securing international R&D resources, more interactions with other countries such as attracting international researchers, dispatching researchers abroad, and exchanging information is needed.