The Ministry of Science and ICT will change how it evaluates national research and development (R&D) projects and improve research fund execution and administrative procedures. It is also pushing a plan to give follow-up research opportunities to projects that did not meet their research goals but accumulated meaningful data and knowledge during the challenge process.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 31st that it prepared the "2026 national research and development administrative system improvement plan" and notified related ministries. The plan was drawn up based on 349 opinions collected from research sites and was approved at the deliberation meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology on the 26th.
The government scrapped results-centered grade and score evaluations in July and plans to establish a new evaluation system by Oct.
Going forward, not only projects with significant academic, technological, and industrial spillover effects but also "excellent challenge projects" that did not reach their initial targets yet secured valuable data and knowledge through trial and error will be recognized as outstanding projects. The selected projects will receive incentives such as connections to follow-up research and government commendations. In contrast, projects with problems during execution, such as legal violations or research misconduct, will be classified as "inappropriate projects," with research fund recovery and participation restrictions applied.
The "Moving Target" system, which allows research goals to be changed during the project, will also be fully introduced starting in 2027. To enable adjustments to research goals in line with changes in the technological environment, the approval process will be shortened, and a cross-ministerial common guideline will be prepared.
Rules for executing research funds will also be eased. The completion deadline for introducing research facilities and equipment will be adjusted from "two months before the end of the phase" to the overall project end date, and if the start of the next phase is delayed, remaining direct costs will be automatically carried over so that items such as labor costs can be executed first.
However, a new personal cap will be introduced for research allowances to prevent excessive concentration on specific researchers. In addition to existing aggregates and allocation limits, the research allowance one researcher can receive will be limited to within 100% of their own labor cost budgeted in the project.
Standards for settling research funds, which had differed by ministry or accounting firm, will also be unified. The government will distribute a cross-ministerial standard settlement guide and a casebook of recognized and unrecognized research expenses, and if the agreement period is less than six months, annual reports may be integrated into the following year's report and so on.
For international joint research, the government will strengthen management and audits of how research funds remitted to overseas institutions are used and prepare support measures to protect research outputs such as domestic institutions' intellectual property rights when signing agreements with overseas institutions.
The Ministry of Science and ICT will begin revising related regulations, including the Enforcement Decree of the National Research and Development Innovation Act, from Sep., with plans to fully implement the revamped system starting in 2027.
Park In-gyu, head of the Science and Technology Innovation Center, said, "To maximize Korea's R&D competitiveness, it is essential to create an autonomous research environment where researchers can immerse themselves in bold and challenging research," adding, "We will swiftly implement these administrative improvements to decisively break unnecessary practices and build a practical support system that can be felt immediately in the field, rapidly completing an 'innovation research ecosystem based on trust and responsibility.'"