Questions/Answers

【 Problem:Benefits of national R&D projects are provided to only a few groups. 】 South Korea has invested more than 4% of its GDP in national R&D every year to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth. In particular, it has invested more than 860 million dollars a year in research infrastructure, such as research facilities and equipment for the past 20 years. Meanwhile, the development of science and technology, which used to be mainly implemented by private laboratories, is currently carried out with high technology. Thus, recent research and development are rapidly changing centered on the research groups and data produced in large-scale research infrastructure. However, high-tech research infrastructure requires a large budget, constant operating costs and human resources. Therefore, there is a clear limit for individuals or developing countries to manage leading research infrastructure. Despite the recent effort of many countries dispatching their high-caliber talent to advanced countries for national science and technology development, there is a problem that on-going research can be discontinued due to lack of research infrastructure even after returning to the homeland. The lack of research infrastructure is the cause of deepening technological level gaps among countries, and eventually, like the hereditary succession of wealth, developing countries are excluded from opportunities, and leads to the“unlevel playing field”of the international science and technology society. From a domestic perspective, research infrastructure is concentrated on a small number of prominent researchers. Therefore, the up-and-coming junior researchers or technical staffs from SMEs, who account for the majority of technology development, cannot utilize expensive research infrastructure. To solve these problems, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT planned and established the national research infrastructure governance system, NFEC(National research Facilities and Equipment Center), to fairly allocate opportunities for utilizing research infrastructure for technological innovation and to increase efficiency in science and technology investment.

【 The most advanced-technology fields are managed in the most traditional way 】 Fostering innovation to deliver inclusive and equitable services for all including through digital transformation aims at providing fair opportunities to as many beneficiaries as possible via online platform. Contemporary social infrastructures are rapidly changing to digital or online platform which allows easy access and utilization. In the process of up-to-date technology development, there was an inconsistency of using the out-of date method – obtaining information and utilizing the research infrastructure among acquaintances. This is one of the biggest reasons why research infrastructure deployed with government investment is offered to only a few groups. Digitalization and distribution of information produced in research infrastructure founded with national finance provides an fair and inclusive utilization of infrastructure and opportunity to sustainable growth. Furthermore, digitalized information can be translated into various languages, which leads to a great opportunity for developing countries with high demand for the utilization of research infrastructures around the world.

【 Guaranteeing integrated accessibility to national research infrastructure 】 ZEUS is generally associated with SDGs, and especially, SDG 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, and 17. ZEUS aims to provide fair opportunity for everyone to utilize research infrastructure. It provides advanced education information and opportunities for science and technology(SDG 4). It contributes to creating a level playing field for the female researchers who have been hard to get chances to infrastructure due to a glass ceiling(SDG 5). In addition, understanding the current status of research infrastructure and supporting efficient facility operation supports full and productive employment and decent work for all(SDG 8), and promotes to build resilient infrastructure, inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation(SDG 9). Seperate reservation services and support systems for developing countries narrow the technology gap between countries(SDG10, and 17). This equitable provision of opportunity can change the social convention that research infrastructure is the property of individual researchers(SDG 17).

【 NFEC, promoting virtuous circle of policies on research infrastructure 】 Expensive research infrastructure is essential for advanced science technology research and development. However, due to the limitations of national finances, all researchers cannot equally utilize the infrastructure. NFEC aims to provide all researchers with equal opportunities to utilize research infrastructure. To make it possible, NFEC collects and analyzes all research infrastructure information in South Korea to understand the status of the deployment and operation of facilities. The virtuous cycle of policies is resulted, as it increases the efficiency of research infrastructure, such as preventing unnecessary research infrastructure from being built, relocating underutilized infrastructure, and reserving equipment online. The government credibility increases by transparent disclosure of information on the operation and financial investments in research infrastructure. Economically, the government can curb unnecessary investment in science and technology, enabling strategic investment in new R&D areas.

【 NFEC, improves the accessibility to research infrastructure】 South Korea has rapidly expanded its long-term investment in science and technology research infrastructure since 2000. For example, South Korea established regional innovation centers in order to build the foundation for technological development of SMEs in 52 industrial sectors since 2002. The policy was to improve the inclusiveness of national research infrastructure, but due to duplicate investment by each ministry, the research infrastructure establishment expenses accounted for up to 20% of total research and development budget as of 2012. Therefore, South Korea analyzed the information on research infrastructure establishment across the nation through ZEUS to use the information to improve the efficiency of new investment and established policies to maximize the joint utilization of established research infrastructure. This can be seen through the projects used to establish the system for joint utilization of infrastructure based on infrastructure information of each research institute and the policies that comprehensively execute the operating expenses of research infrastructure which were implemented. This has contributed significantly towards improving inclusiveness of researchers such as including new researchers and others who do not have the necessary infrastructures in place to conduct research.

Before the establishment of NFEC , there had been no system for joint utilization of research infrastructure at the national or regional level. The infrastructure was mostly utilized by small networks. Therefore, female researchers had to win research and development projects from the government to utilize research infrastructure or utilize research infrastructure in their own institute due to their weak network. National research infrastructure joint utilization system through ZEUS intends to provide an environment where anyone can access and utilize research infrastructure. Therefore, female researchers with the weak network can utilize the infrastructure fully and people can obtain knowledge on research infrastructure operation anytime through the mentoring program provided by ZEUS

The policy objective of NFEC is to utilize a national budget for research and development efficiently, thereby maximizing the beneficiaries. Therefore, the beneficiaries of NFEC policy are researchers performing science and technology development and we are providing customized facility information and appointment systems to make sure that researchers who are marginalized from national research tasks can utilize state-of-the-art research infrastructure in a joint manner. In addition, we are supporting the joint utilization of research infrastructure by establishing programs to support research infrastructure usage fees to researchers from SMEs and new researchers. With this policy support, the joint utilization of research infrastructure through NFEC increased significantly (from 2,008 cases in 2013 to 177,264 cases in 2018), resulting in the decrease in the share of equipment establishment in the total research and development project cost (13% in 2011 to 7% in 2018) and increase in the joint infrastructure utilization that supports marginalized group (52 facilities in 2011 to 326 facilities in 2019). We are also providing various information for the establishment of research infrastructure for general researchers. ZEUS makes it possible for people who want to establish new research infrastructure to establish the optimized infrastructure by providing information on various examples of existing research infrastructure establishment.

【 Start from the movement of a scientific society, advanced as a national policy 】 NFEC is originated from Korea Equipment On Line (KEOL) established in 2003. Dynamic South Korean social culture started identifying a cooperative system in the research infrastructure sector voluntarily and as a result, KEOL began its operation to provide a search function to find jointly available research infrastructure. Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) paid attention to this movement of the research field and has made an effort to establish the legal foundation since 2005 in an effort to enlarge the research infrastructure. According the law, information established by the R&D project in Korea is required to be registered in the national information system. The MSIT and Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology focused on the fact that the management of infrastructure for science and technology strengthened the underlying structure of national research and development. In 2009, National Research Facilities & Equipment Center (NFEC) was designated as a professional organization to carry out tasks required. NFEC established the framework to manage national research infrastructure systematically from 2009 to 2011 (through policy targeting, information items, management entities, and individual tasks) and established the 5-year national master plan (first for 2013 to 2017, second for 2018 to 2022) to improve the investment, utilization, operation, and management of national research infrastructure by collecting opinions from various stakeholders and science and technology experts in 2012. Since 2013, Korea has started providing NFEC - ZEUS, a portal service for national research infrastructure. In 2011, ZEUS implemented Information Strategy Planning (ISP) and Information Technology Architecture (ITA) to plan an information systems with the research infrastructure that used to be managed at the individual ministry level. It led to utilization and management in a comprehensive manner. Starting from the equipment reservation service in 2013, it has expanded its scope to review service in 2014, transfer idle equipment in 2015, and began to manage large facilities as well in 2016. Now, ZEUS currently plays a leading role providing the comprehensive information service that supports the whole lifecycle of the national research infrastructure. Infrastructure worth more than 25,000 dollars is being built with a separate review process and the use of infrastructure is examined every year to evaluate whether it is not in use and also transfer it to other researchers who need. The implementation plan for NFEC and relevant policies is established every year by the MSIT and detailed implementation is conducted through budget and NFEC. The report on the progress of the project is being published every year. During the process of setting up a new National Research Infrastructure Plan for the next five years, NFEC evaluates the results from the previous phase and prepare a continuous implementation strategy to support the excellencem, and supplementary measure to complement the insufficiency.

【 Compromise and coordinate in Policy: As Partners, Not Competitors】 The South Korean government is capable of dealing with most obstacles. However, as each ministry and local governments started establishing their own research infrastructure utilization system in early 2010, the competition within the government posed significant obstacles in implementing policies for integration. The MSIT overcame the obstacles by coordinating the roles of various stakeholders (G2G, G2B, G2C) and cooperating with each other on the difference of opinions. - - G2G: Research infrastructure information and reservation system were integrated into a single platform, but each ministry was assigned with individual tasks such as information checking, status survey, and operation of reservation system to change the relationship from competitor to the partner. - - G2B: Linkage between Research Infrastructure Management System and Government System via Application Protocol Interface (API) - G2C: Providing information and online consulting on research infrastructure – including mentoring program Increase the effectiveness and continuity of policies through comprehensive adjustment

【 Strengthen the Dynamics of R&D Investment 】 Every year, South Korea’s R&D budget increases but the research infrastructure budget has been maintained at a certain level (860 million dollars) since 2010 with the increase in fixed cost due to world-class operation in terms of research human resources and institutions. However, the establishment cost per research infrastructure is increasing rapidly as science and technology are becoming more sophisticated and expanded (54,000 dollars in 2010 to 108,000 dollars in 2019). However, the integrated management system for research infrastructure is an innovative policy that improves the soundness of research and development investment under the current circumstances of South Korea, where 28 government ministries are making an investment in the development of science and technology individually (share of joint utilization equipment among total equipment:18% in 2009 to 65% in 2019). Through ZEUS, it is possible to deter additional demand through the establishment of infrastructure based on joint utilization and promotion of management and reduced demand for the establishment of infrastructure can be distributed to new investment and marginalized groups. The improved access to research infrastructure always promotes innovative and adventurous research.

【 Finding an answer from the operations in developed countries 】 While devising the NFEC, the review and deployment module of research equipment run by the German Research Foundation (DFG) was used as a reference to the initial plan. DFG requires research infrastructure worth higher than 23 million dollars to go through the review process and managed some infrastructures belong to the government. This was inspirational to ZEUS that aims to maximize the benefits of national R&D project by efficiently distributing the limited resource and budget. . Besides, the research infrastructure roadmap and catalog from ESFRI inspired us on how to establish and utilize research infrastructure systematically.We also obtained the idea of a management systems for large facilities from the LFO(Large research Facility Office) of NSF(National Science Foundation).However, the policy ideas including joint utilization were obtained by collecting opinions from various stakeholders in Korea. This was the major driving force behind the innovative policies in ZEUS.

【 All systems built by NFEC are connected to the digital government of Korea. 】 It is digitally connected to the d-Brain that manages national finances, the pms system that manages research funds, the NTIS, which is the national R&D outcome management system, and the digital government system of central and local governments. It means it can spread quickly.

【 Solution to efficiency issue of research and development budget 】 Policy on NFEC was presented as a solution to maximize the inclusiveness of the research and development budget. In 2015 and 2016, training courses were developed under the theme of national research infrastructure management targeting high-ranking policy officials in ASEAN member countries to explain Korea’s research infrastructure policy and among them policy consulting was provided to Cambodia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam. Currently, we are planning for a joint utilization program for ASEAN member countries and providing information on available research facilities through the English web service(http://zeus.go.kr). This was presented as an effective measure to improve local R&D to the governments. Accordingly, the national model was monitored, and 7 local governments are implementing policies for joint utilization by making ordinances. NFEC is planning systems to strengthen cooperation with local governments at this moment and looking forward to another innovation model stemming from this.

【 A model suitable for the stage where R&D policies begins 】 NFEC is a model that connects policies to utilize limited science and technology development research infrastructure from the input of R&D budget to the utilization, operation, management, and return of investment of infrastructure. . The procedures and implementation methods related to NFEC policy were incorporated into acts/manuals and by integrating all management systems into the information system to ensure the convenienttransference of the policy to other countries/organizations in a packaged form. In addition, the national level standards are provided as the ordiance and utilization and management procedures are distributed as manuals, and there is a system to supplement them periodically. . NFEC also have prepared the information system to support all procedures and the persons concerned with quantitative data on the evaluation and supplementation of R&D infrastructure policies. This is an innovative system that can realize data-based decision making, which is one of the most important trends in current policy. NFEC is receiving high expectation that can provide the optimized solution to developing countries which are in difficulties in establishing relevant systems and policies.

Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology (strategy), the MSIT (planning) and NFEC (implementation) have their own role in the implementation of NFEC policy. The Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology agrees on a strategy to upgrade the utilization of national research infrastructure (1st: 2013~2017, 2nd: 2018~2022) and the MSIT establishes an advancement plan and detailed implementation plan as well as monitors NFEC. The NFEC implements a detailed implementation plan established by the MSIT. To make this possible, the MSIT allocates policy implementation budget every year and the budget is composed of 4 projects (investment evaluation, joint utilization, management system and support for transfer). The invested budget from 2013 to 2019 is 37.41 million dollars, and the average annual budget is 5.34 million dollars. Besides, 40 researchers with PhD degrees were assigned to the NFEC to develop detailed policies, evaluate research infrastructure establishment, implement policies and circulate collected informaiotn.

【 NFEC, promoting virtuous circle of policies on research infrastructure 】 So far, 3 million pieces of information collected through NFEC(100,000 research infrastructure information, 1 million utilization information from relevant projects, papers and patents) enable data-based decision making. Based on the analyzed information, the current status of the establishment and operation of the research infrastructure can be identified and allocate the national budget in a timely manner. Besides, NFEC encourages the joint use of research infrastructures and prevents unnecessary investments by transferring less-used equipment. This leads to reduced fixed maintenance costs, enabling startegic investments in new areas, and eventually, policies drafted in NFEC may continue. In addition, NFEC provides an opportunity to change the exclusive research infrastructure into open environment by sharing information regarding investment and operation of research infrastructures via information system “ZEUS“. information system. This is expected to be the major role of NFEC in the future.

Yes

【 ZEUS, always listening to voices of the persons concerned】 The policy assessment of NFEC is operated in four stages: internal, external, systemic, and economic feasibility assessment. . Primarily, MIST and NFEC conduct a qualitative assessment on a yearly basis, and the evaluation results are published as a business report at the end of every January. Secondly, external assessment is conducted through surveys for external evaluation committee members and the persons concerned upon planning 5-year national master plan. The achievement of quantitative index and Key Performance Indicators(KPI) in this survey are reflected in future plan. Thirdly, NFEC conduct a system evaluation with general researchers every year, and the satisfaction level has increased every year. (72% in 2015 to 82% in 2018) Furthermore, the collected feedbacks are incorporated into the system improvement. Finally, economic feasibility of the ZEUS system and NFEC is evaluated on an irregular basis. This result is used as a reference for budget allocation data for future policies. It is estimated that the annual profit amounts to 1 billion dollars according to the 2018 economic feasibility assessment.

The qualitative and quantitative indicators are being used for the policy assessment of NFEC Quantitative indicators consist of a total of 20, which can be divided into input and output performance. Input performance is composed of system management, joing utilization of research facility, and infrastructure utilization, while output performance is based on scientific, social, and economic performance indicators developed via research infrastructure. The qualitative indicators specify about 10 key performance indicators at the stage of establishing the basic plan. The achievement of indicators is reflected in future planning by qualitative assessment. In addition, NFEC organizes the descriptive opinions of the persons concerned and use them to raise issues regarding future plans and set up KPIs.

The evaluation results are utilized for future planning and system improvement while the achievement rate is continuously monitored. The internal evaluation has been conducted since 2009 to evaluate performance of the policy, monitor the policy implementation system, and the satisfaction of interested parties. The evaluation results are utilized as the basis for improvement in detailed plans or new plans. Then the external evaluation rersults are conducted(have conducted twice in 2012, 2017) and collect the feedbacks from a town hall meeting, as well as task force, survey, and expert meeting. There is a demand for the promotion of joint utilization and improvement of the governmental management system and the evaluation results are incorporated into the planning of the next basic plan. The system evaluation has been conducted since 2014 to collect information to improve the system every year. Satisfaction level is increasing every year and feedbacks are incorporated into system establishment.

【 NFEC, innovative system through collaboration 】 The policy of NFEC is based on integration and collaboration. So far, 18 government ministries and their operation agency, 17 local authorities and 430 research institutes are participating as interested parties and it is difficult to integrate them into a single system. Under the ZEUS system, vertical structure led by Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology in charge of strategy, the Ministry as planning, and Expert Operating Agency as implementation and Research Institute for benefits were established. To coordinate opinion and role sharing among the different ministries, the residential Advisory Council on Science & Technology designated the MSIT as the coordinating ministry, and each ministry was to play its role based on their characteristics. In addition, the integrated policy was implemented through NFEC and each professional operating agency is assigned with tasks of implementing policies. In order to play a role smoothly, information systems are integrated into one. Each department system is operated independently, and all data is managed by NFEC. Besides, the committee for the cooperation is operated to actively reflect on the opinions of the interested parties.

【 Cooperation for Innovation 】 The interested parties of NFEC include 18 government ministries, a professional operation agency under each ministry, 430 research institutes, 3700 companies from the industry and 120,000 researchers. We are establishing the system for active participation of these persons concerned. Primarily in the policy designing and planning stage, those responsible for policy and working-level personnel of each ministry participate in the policy committee to fully incorporate the opinion of each ministry into the policy. In addition, opinion collection is done before implementing policy. 4 policy committee meetings were held from 2008 to 2013 under the leadership of Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology to improve the effectiveness of NFEC policy. Secondly, meetings where working-level people from the professional operating agencies are held more than twice a year after 2009 prior to designing and implementing policies in order to elaborate upon these policies and collect various opinions. Thirdly, surveys have been conducted regularly since 2013 when certain policies started targeting research institutes. The research infrastructure operation status is identified and opinion on research infrastructure, personnel, and performance is collected for policy improvement. Finally, all policies are designed based on the opinions from the research field-collected through the expert council, policy presentations, and town hall meetings. The opinion is collected from senior researchers, infrastructure experts, up-and-coming junior researchers, researchers from companies including SMEs and NGOs. This is part of the effort to fully incorporate the opinion of the policy beneficiaries, contributing to the improvement of policy effects.

NFEC pursues continuous innovation through change. This means the changes from individual ownership culture of the research infrastructure, which had been widespread in the research field. South Korea achieved an astonishing economic growth without natural resources. I think that the major reason for the success was the open approach to new system. The success of NFEC would not be possible without efforts and understanding of interested parties. Three lessons could be learned in the process of implementing the policies of NFEC. Firstly, policies implemented across the country should be approached with strategy. Under the situation where all interested parties pursue their own policies, the one that tries to solve all problems at once could cause major backlash. Therefore, NFEC started with collecting the information of infrastructure that can be jointly utilized. It has been expanded to establishment of the integrated review system, utilization, transfer, and operation of the infrastructure in a phased manner. To this end, a long-term implementation plan is essential. Secondly, there should be an integrated implementing agency. The MSIT pursues institutional integration and designates NFEC as an implementation organization for the role of coordinating all policy implementations. NFEC played the role of persuading the persons concerned and arbitrating conflicts with strong leadership. Thirdly, the policy should be maintained and outcomes should be monitored continuously. The basic concept of ZEUS is integration. To this end, we maintained the consistent framework in terms of the institution (law), policy (basic plan), project (advancement project) and organization (NFEC), and continuous monitoring on implementation status was done for policy incorporation. South Korea has learned a lot from the international community. Now, it is time for us to share the policy of NFEC, which is originated from our unique idea, and its outcome with other countries. South Korea wants to develop ZEUS as a system which provides useful and valuable information to all citizens in the world. . South Korea aims to strengthen underlying the structure of science and technology of each country and region to make sure that all people in the world could enjoy the benefits of growth.