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South Korean science needs restructuring

A switch to projects led by independent principal investigators would build on the success of the nation’s centralized research agenda, urges Han Woong Yeom.
  1. Han Woong Yeom

    1. Han Woong Yeom is professor of physics at Pohang University of Science and Technology and director of the Center for Artificial Low Dimensional Electronic Systems at the Institute for Basic Science, Pohang, South Korea. He is vice-chair of South Korea’s Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology.

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South Korean science is both flourishing and floundering. In some ways, things could not be better. National spending on research and development (R&D) by industry and government was 4.24% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2016 — the second-highest percentage for any country worldwide (Israel was first, with 4.25%). For three decades, the government has invested billions of dollars each year in high-tech industry, turning South Korean electronics companies such as Samsung, LG and SK Hynix into world leaders.

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Nature 558, 511-513 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-05508-z

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