S. Korea ranks fourth in R&D among OECD members

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea ranked fourth among member nations of the
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the
ratio of its research spending to gross domestic product (GDP) last year, the
government said Tuesday.

The 2008 tally showed the country spending the equivalent of 3.37 percent of its
national output on research and development (R&D), with the total reaching 34.49
trillion won (US$28.22 billion) for a 10.2 percent gain from the year before.
Sweden ranked first with 3.60 percent of GDP directed towards research, with
Finland and Japan coming in second and third, respectively.
"The ranking is unchanged from the year before although the total moved up by
0.16 percentage point," said Deputy Science and Technology Minister Lee Sang-mok.
He added that in terms of the total amount of funds used, the country ranked
sixth among the 30 members of the economic organization and seventh if China is
included.
"The United States spent 11.8 times more on R&D than South Korea in the cited
year, while Japan's spending was 4.8 times greater," the official said.
Of the total spent, the public sector accounted for 26.8 percent or 9.25 trillion
won, with private companies investing 25.14 trillion won to make up 72.9 percent
of the total. The remainder was invested by foreign businesses and laboratories
that injected just over 106 billion won.
Lee said that 16.1 percent of R&D funds were spent on basic research, with 19.6
percent going to applied sciences and 64.3 percent being used for actual
development.
"Information technology received 33.8 percent of all funds, with 12.3 percent
being earmarked for nano-technology," the deputy minister said.
Reflecting heavy input from the private sector, the bulk, or 88.4 percent of the
total, was used in the manufacturing sector, with 7.9 percent being allocated for
various service industries.
The latest report, meanwhile, said that South Korea had 300,050 engineers and
researchers in 2008.
The figure equals 9.7 researchers for every 1,000 people who are economically
active, making the country the seventh highest among OECD nations.
The ministry in charge of the country's science and technology policies said the
total size of R&D per GDP will be raised to within the 5 percent range over the
next four years.
For 2010, Seoul is aiming to push up R&D spending by 10.5 percent on-year, with a
greater amount of resources being used for basic research vital for long term
growth and development.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
(END)