This year, artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation were cited as the top priorities for securing national competitiveness.
Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) on the 6th released "STEPI Outlook 2026" and presented the results of a survey of perceptions and outlooks of 200 experts in science and technology policy research and 800 members of the general public age 19 or older.
According to the survey, 31.5% of expert respondents said that digital transformation and AI convergence are the most urgent for national competitiveness. This rate was among the highest, along with building an innovation system for national research and development (R&D).
The trend was the same in the public survey. The share that chose digital transformation and AI convergence as the top priority was the highest at 23.9%, showing that both experts and the public see AI-based transformation as a common priority.
However, there was a difference in views on the national challenges Korea will face this year. Experts identified discovering new growth engines (44.5%) as the biggest task, while the public ranked the deepening shift in the population structure (28.3%) first. In the future they expect through advances in science and technology, both groups chose "a more prosperous country."
In responses on the impact of changes in the external environment on Korea, there was an outlook that the negative effects of the U.S.-China dispute will ease, while recognition that digital transformation will have a positive impact rose significantly.
Shin Ki-yun, an associate research fellow at STEPI, noted that major countries such as the United States, the European Union, and China are engaging in AI policy competition, and emphasized that Korea also needs a policy shift to consolidation of technology development and use. Yoon Jeong-seop, a research fellow at STEPI, said that science and technology innovation policy needs to align more closely with the nation's mid- to long-term strategy, and analyzed that national R&D policy needs to move away from a focus on individual projects and be systematically designed and operated within a broader framework that advances long-term future strategy.