A forecast said that this year, Korea's corporations are expected to see an overall recovery in research and development (R&D) investment and research workforce operations compared with the previous year. However, rather than a clear return to an expansion phase, analysts said the sharp contraction last year has eased somewhat, pointing to a moderation of the downward trend. Depending on the industry, the pace of recovery and how it is felt will differ, with some sectors seeing heightened expectations for a rebound while others are likely to remain subdued.
The Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA) said it confirmed these findings in the results of its "2026 Research and Development Outlook Survey (RSI)." KOITA has conducted annual surveys on corporations' R&D investment and researcher hiring since 2013, and this year's survey covered 500 corporations with R&D organizations.
The survey found that for 2026, corporations' investment RSI stood at 99.7 and the workforce RSI at 94.9. Compared with the 2025 outlook survey, when investment was 79.6 and workforce 84.2, these figures showed a significant improvement, which suggests corporations' anxiety over R&D investment has eased from a year earlier. With 100 as the baseline, 100 or higher indicates an increase from the previous year, below 100 a decrease, and 100 the same level as the previous year.
As reasons corporations plan to increase R&D investment in 2026, "expansion of existing business execution" was the most cited at 30.5%, followed by "new business opportunities and initiatives related to digital (including artificial intelligence (AI))" (19.0%) and "strong commitment by management to research and development investment" (18.4%). In contrast, "response to carbon neutrality," a major global issue, came in at 2.3%, making it relatively low as a direct driver of investment expansion.
By corporation type, mid-sized corporations posted an investment RSI of 103.1, exceeding 100 and indicating a tilt toward expansion, but large corporations (98.1) and small corporations (99.3) fell short of 100, suggesting investment will remain at levels similar to 2025.
The workforce RSI recovered more slowly than the investment RSI. With large corporations at 95.2, mid-sized at 94.9, and small at 94.4, all types were below 100, indicating a prevailing outlook for reduced hiring of research staff.
By industry, machinery, electrical and electronics, information and communications, chemicals, and other industries saw investment RSIs rebound to 100 or higher, signaling recovery expectations. However, on the workforce side, only the electrical and electronics industry exceeded 100 at 104.2, pointing to an expansion in hiring, while most other industries remained below 100. Conversely, construction, materials, and automotive sustained last year's contractionary trend. Investment RSIs were 90.0 for construction, 89.6 for materials, and 90.6 for automotive, while workforce RSIs were 77.1 for construction, 91.7 for materials, and 88.3 for automotive, showing more pronounced negative sentiment than in other industries.
KOITA Executive Vice Chairman Ko Seo-gon said, "Because the R&D investment outlook still does not clearly exceed the baseline (100), corporations are more likely to continue a strategy of selection and concentration under a cautious stance rather than embark on full-fledged investment expansion," and emphasized, "It is important to create a corporation-friendly policy environment that can support corporations' R&D recovery trend."