South Korea has reclaimed the number one spot in terms of the ratio of research and development (R&D) spending to gross domestic product (GDP). South Korea’s ratio was 4.55 percent last year, higher than Israel’s 4.25 percent. The total amount of Korea’s R&D investment reached 78.8 trillion won (US$69.73 billion) last year, up more than 13.5 percent from a year earlier and the fifth largest in the world. The Ministry of Science and ICT released on Nov. 27 the results of its survey on R&D activities carried out in the government, public and private sectors in South Korea last year.
The survey was conducted on 59,603 domestic companies from April to September based on the OECD standards for international comparison of material and human resources injected into R&D. Out of the 59,603 firms, 50,619 responded to the survey, showing a collection rate of 84.9 percent, and those not responded the survey were so small that they wouldn’t actually affect the results, according to the government. Korea’s total R&D investment recorded 78.8 trillion won (US$69.73 billion) last year, up 9.38 trillion won (US$8.3 billion) from a year ago. South Korea ranked fifth among OECD member countries after the United States, China, Japan, and Germany. The R&D investment of the private sector grew 14.7 percent, or 7.72 trillion won (US$6.83 billion) to 60.06 trillion won (US$53.15 billion) compared to the previous year, while that of the government and public sector rose 8.1 percent, or 1.33 trillion won (US$1.17 billion).
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