Government to Overhaul R&D Commercialization System

To address the issue of South Korea's R&D investment not effectively translating into economic performance, the government will comprehensively improve the system for turning research results into actual businesses.

To resolve the issue of fragmented projects across ministries, a 'pan-ministerial R&D results dissemination highway' has been established. This initiative connects basic and original research to commercialization, financial support, and market development.

To activate researcher entrepreneurship, leaves of absence and concurrent employment will be generally approved, special provisions for conflicts of interest will be established, and researcher compensation methods will be pursued when technology fees are collected in the form of stocks or equity.

Support for commercialization includes enhancing the expertise of technology holding companies and research outcome commercialization promotion agencies (TLOs), establishing an information opening service for private sector access to public research outcomes, and introducing 'investment-type R&D' through equity contributions.

The goal is to foster more than 30 companies listed through IPOs and cultivate 5,000 public deep-tech startups by 2030.

The Minister of Science and ICT stated, "I urge the active participation and cooperation of related ministries to dismantle the barriers hindering startup creation from research outcomes and to build a virtuous cycle for R&D investment."