The government will move to ease the burden on the research field by strengthening a shared-use system for university research facilities and equipment and by sharply reducing administrative forms for national research and development (R&D).
Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, presided over the 9th ministers' meeting on science and technology relations at Government Complex Seoul on the 29th and discussed the "plan to promote shared use of university research facilities and equipment" and the "innovation plan for national R&D administrative systems to ease research administration burdens."
At the meeting, a key agenda item was a plan to shift research facilities and equipment scattered by individual labs within universities to a university-level shared-use system. The government plans to nurture university shared instrument centers and shared experiment and practice halls as hubs for shared use of research facilities and equipment so researchers can more easily use the equipment they need.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and ICT will begin full-fledged support in 2027. The idea is to build an integrated management system at the university level and, through bundled-budget support, enhance the stability of equipment operation and its utilization.
The government will establish job categories and grade systems for research equipment professionals and refine standards for transferring equipment between institutions. It will also strengthen surveys of research facilities and equipment within universities to reduce problems such as duplicate procurement and low utilization.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science and ICT said they would create sustainable research infrastructure that regions and universities can use together through a cooperative system that links financial support, institutions, and infrastructure.
The government will also push to simplify national R&D administrative forms and integrate research support systems. A full survey by the Ministry of Science and ICT of ministry-by-ministry administrative forms found there are currently 2,171 administrative forms related to national R&D. The government will streamline unnecessary or overlapping forms and reduce them to 154, a cut of more than 90%.
A total quantity system for forms will also be introduced to prevent forms from multiplying again. Simple confirmation procedures, such as consent to provide personal information, will be converted to electronic forms within the pan-ministerial integrated research support system (IRIS), and links between external administrative systems and IRIS will be expanded. The aim is to reduce researchers' burden of repeatedly submitting the same materials.
Research support systems will also be integrated in stages. Starting in June this year with the construction of "Research 24," a unified login site for R&D services, the government plans to integrate by 2028 the four major research support systems—IRIS, the pan-ministerial integrated research fund management system (Ezbaro), the research fund integrated management system (RCMS), and the National Science & Technology Information Service (NTIS). Artificial intelligence (AI) administrative support services will also be introduced in stages for some tasks, such as recommending evaluation committee members and handling regulation inquiries.
Bae, the deputy prime minister, said, "We will reduce unnecessary administration that blocks research autonomy and creativity, and create an environment where researchers can focus on research itself."
Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed a strategy to secure core competitiveness in physical AI. The government plans to pursue competitiveness in key fields such as manufacturing, robotics, and mobility by developing physical AI technologies and spreading them in industrial settings.