National Research Development Enterprise 30% `Waste of Money`

Investigations have shown that the National Research Development enterprise, which costs over 2.5 trillion won, has made around 30 percent overlapping investments, lacks definitive research goals, and provided unsatisfactory research results, wasting unnecessary funds.

A review of whether the enterprise is necessary indicates that it must take immediate measures to prevent losses incurred through mistakes such as overlapping investments.

The 2001 National Research and Development Program Investigation and Review which examined a total of 13 committees, including the Ministry of Science and Technology subsidiary Korean Science and Technology Review Committee, Committee of Education, Communication, and Industrial Resource, submitted its findings from an investigation into the 161 Research and Development enterprises to the National Science and Technology Committee (Chairman, President Kim Dae Jung). 234 experts who complied to report rated the enterprises according to 5 grades, A (Very Good), B (Good), C (Average), D (Unsatisfactory), E (Need Improvement). The report gave 48 of the 161 enterprises (29.8 percent) a grade of D or E for over investing or unsatisfactory research results. 17 enterprises (10.6 percent) received A grade, 31 enterprises (19.2 percent) received B grade, 65 enterprises (40.4 percent ) received C grade, 31 enterprises (19.2 percent) received D grade, and 17 enterprises (10.6 percent) received E grade. The amount of funds apportioned to enterprises falling under D and E categories is 5322 hundred million wons, 20.6 percent of the entire budge. The review reports departments that received E ratings, the Department of Education with 3 out of 17 offices (22 percent), Department of Environmental Affairs with 1 out of 5 offices (20 percent), Department of Environmental Protection with 4 out of 27 offices (15 percent), and the Office of Marine Affairs with 1 out of 7 offices (14 percent). The combined number of offices receiving D and E ratings include Department of Health and Welfare with 4 (45 percent), Department of Education with 5 (36 percent), Department of Environmental Protection 9 (35 percent), Department of State Affairs with 6 (30 percent), Department of Marine Affairs with 2 (28 percent), and the Department of Science and Technology with 7 (22 percent).

In the E grade category, the Department of Education at 495 hundred million won has succeeded in strengthening graduate level research but employed a larger portion of its funds to personnel than research and showed unsatisfactory results in the SCI project.

The report indicated that the Department of State Affairs’ Korean Medical Research program lacks relevance and the Department of Science and Technology’s Mutual Nuclear Power Control program lacks a concrete purpose.

It also concluded that the Department of Education’s Game Development and Research program is ineffective and lacks practical application, and the Department of Communication’s Communication Research program needs to be greatly improved.

The report subjected 161 enterprises to 9533 questions, finding that the Department of Science and Technology’s `Leading Edge Technology Development,` `Clean Production Technology Development` and the Department of Environmental Affairs’ `Low Automobile Pollution Technology Development` overlap, and that 51 offices out of 164 overlap in investments and fields of research, indicating that the program must be reformulated.

Lee In-Chul inchul@donga.com