Overseas organizations that conduct joint research with Korean institutions will be able to directly participate in Korea’s national R&D projects as lead and joint R&D organizations.

To ease the burden of R&D expenses for companies conducting international joint research, international joint R&D expenses will be excluded when calculating research expenses borne by companies participating in the Korean government’s R&D projects.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) said that an amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the National Research, Development and Innovation Act was passed at a cabinet meeting on Jan. 30 and is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 6.

According to the amendment, the government has relaxed a criterion on the number of simultaneous projects conducted by Korean researchers in the case of projects in which overseas organizations participate as lead and joint R&D organizations. Researchers can participate in up to six projects as participating researchers, of which they can perform up to four projects as principal researchers.

Meanwhile, to create an environment where researchers can conduct research freely without worrying about a leak of research assets, information on conflicts of interest of principal researchers will be well managed. In the future, researchers will be required to include matters such as support or compensation from overseas in their research and development plans when signing agreements and submit them to the ministry, and security allowances paid to researchers performing national R&D projects classified as security projects under Article 21 of the Innovation Act will be expanded to include close support personnel.

In addition, the amendment recognizes evidence as qualified evidence if it is registered in the integrated information system and legislates that data registered in the integrated information system, rather than paper documents will be utilized in audits of national R&D activities.

The MSIT commented on the revision of the enforcement decree, saying, “It is meaningful that we have laid the foundation for a system related to national R&D projects to rev up international collaborative research aiming to produce world-class results.” The ministry added that it will hold a briefing on the changed national R&D system after the revision of the enforcement decree to promote communications with researchers in the field.

“We have wanted to build a leading R&D system for innovation and challenge by boosting international cooperation, systematizing research security, creating an efficient research environment, and improving the utilization of results.” the MSIT said. “The MSIT will continue to strengthen communications with researchers in the field this year and continue to make system improvements for those in the field.”

Michael Herh pr@businesskorea.co.kr

출처 : Businesskorea(https://www.businesskorea.co.kr)

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