According to Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea,

The amount that the South Korean private sector and government invested in research and development (R&D) for 2022 was 112.64 trillion won ($85.46 billion), which was up by 10.51 trillion won, or 10.3 percent, from the previous year. The country’s R&D as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was 5.21 percent, ranking second in the world after Israel, according to a survey from the Ministry of Science and ICT on Thursday.

The survey encompassed 73,661 entities including public research institutions, universities, and companies engaged in R&D activities. Among the total R&D investment in the country in 2022, government funding accounted for 26.32 trillion won, or 23.4 percent, while private and foreign funds contributed 86.32 trillion won, or 76.6 percent. The government’s share of R&D funding was comparatively lower than that of major countries, standing below France at 36.9 percent and the United Kingdom at 30.8 percent.

Breaking down the investment by entities, companies led the R&D expenditure with 89.42 trillion won, or 79.4 percent. Public research institutions accounted for 12.92 trillion won, or 11.5 percent, while universities contributed 10.31 trillion won, or 9.1 percent.

In terms of R&D stages, 16.92 trillion won, or 15 percent was allocated to basic research, 22.46 trillion won, or 19.9 percent to applied research, and a significant 73.27 trillion won, or 65 percent to development research. The proportion of investment in basic research was akin to that of the United States (14.8 percent) and Japan (12.7 percent), but lower compared to France (23 percent).

The total number of researchers in Korea was 601,530 in 2022, up 14,864 from the previous year.


By Ko Jae-won and Minu Kim

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Source: Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea (December 8, 2023)