Ministry of Science and ICT Holds First ‘Basic Research Strategy Dialogue’, “The movement to qualitatively enhance basic research, with a budget allocation of 3 trillion won, has commenced.”,
The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) organized a ‘Basic Research Strategy Dialogue’, engaging government and research community stakeholders to derive a shared vision and strategy for the qualitative advancement of basic research, with its inaugural meeting held on the 19th.
As the era of a 3 trillion won government budget for basic research unfolds, the focus needs to transition beyond mere quantitative expansion to the qualitative enrichment of basic research. It’s deemed essential to share a vision for basic research between the government and the research community while also reviewing the current support system and exploring future development directions.
The ‘Basic Research Strategy Dialogue’, unlike traditional government assemblies which review and decide on policies, is designed as a practical discussion platform where private sector and government collaboratively propose and shape policies.
Participants in the dialogue include government representatives, research management experts, and figures from the research community involved in basic research and its policy formulation over the years. Senior administrators from universities, the core entities of basic research, are also involved to rigorously discuss ways to enhance university research competitiveness and modernize research administration.
Moving away from government-led agenda setting, this dialogue embraces a flexible model where private participants actively develop agendas, with relevant experts joining based on the discussion area.
In the first ‘Basic Research Strategy Dialogue’, there was a focused discussion on a shared vision for basic research that the government and research community mutually agree upon. It was acknowledged that for basic research to make new strides, it’s important to remain true (BACK TO THE BASIC) to its fundamental purpose of ‘creating new knowledge and theories’.
Future dialogues will concentrate on establishing support systems true to the essence of basic research, enhancing university research competitiveness, ensuring responsible basic research, and dismantling barriers between government, industry, academia, and research institutions.
Lee Chang-yoon, the first Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, expressed, “We hope that the Basic Research Strategy Dialogue not only produces vision and strategies for the qualitative enhancement of basic research beyond its quantitative expansion, but also serves as a leading example of a new model for policy formulation where the government and the private sector collaboratively identify and shape policy agendas.”