Questions/Answers

【 Benefits of national R&D projects are concentrated on a few group of people 】 Korea has invested more than 4% of its GDP in national R&D every year to lay the foundation 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. However, these investments have only been concentrated on limited regions and to limited researchers, marginalizing new researchers and research facilities for SMEs from national R&D. The causes of this problem are listed in the following. Primarily, the Korean government has implemented national R&D policies based on project-based system (PBS). The establishment of research infrastructure has been managed separately by each ministry in charge of a certain R&D project. This caused the establishments of infrastructures without taking duplication, sustainable operation methods and operation personnel into consideration. Secondly, research infrastructure incurs continuous operating cost, but this was not considered at the time of establishment, resulting in the increase of fixed expenses. This acted as a constraint on investment in new research areas. It is important to understand the current state of research infrastructure establishment and operation across the nation in order to find a solution to this problem, It was not possible to understand the current situation under the project management system where each ministry managed its own project individually. Therefore, in order to benefit more researchers by using a limited budget, it is necessary to systematically manage and effectively utilize the research infrastructure.

【 ZEUS for integrated lifecycle management of infrastructure 】 ZEUS aims to provide information on research infrastructure available for joint use through real-time reservation services for marginalized group of researchers such as SMEs and new researchers. In addition, the current state of research infrastructure established by government budget is monitored and unused infrastructure can be transferred to research institutes which is needed. Based on the information system, it can be used as evidence for budget allocation. So, ZEUS is a model that is suitable for the public sector to support sustainable development through integrated utilization and management of national resources.

【 Guaranteeing integrated accessibility to national research infrastructure 】 ZEUS is highly associated with SDG 17 (Guaranteeing integrated access in public institutions). Research infrastructure may be open to national and international researchers and innovative research outcomes have been released recently through joint international research through research infrastructure. ZEUS makes an effort to establish cooperative relationships with many countries and has completed the information integration with Meril-II, which is the research infrastructure information system in the European Union. In addition, we are transferring the management technologies to developing countries such as ASEAN. In 2014, we conducted research infrastructure policy education for senior science and technology officials in developing countries, and are currently preparing a program to open Korea’s research infrastructure to developing countries. Moreover, we have enacted the law on the integrated management of research infrastructure at the national level and this guarantees the continuity of policies by establishing the system for support. We additionally improving systems based on periodic public assessments and questionnaires.

【 ZEUS promotes virtuous circle of policies on research infrastructure 】 ZEUS identifies the current state of research infrastructure establishment and operation by analyzing collected information and utilizes the results for establishing policies related to job creation, connection to strategic industry and resolution of social issues. That is the main benefits that maintain ZEUS. Moreover, ZEUS provides the opportunity to change the closed research infrastructure environment into opened one by sharing investment information and conducting research related to the operating infrastructure environment through the information system. It will be a crucial role to be played by ZEUS in the future.

【 ZEUS that improves the accessibility to research infrastructure】 Korea has paid attention to the investment towards research and development since 2000 and has rapidly expanded the investment into it. For example, Korea established regional innovation centers in order to lay 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 8% of total research and development budget as of 2012. Therefore, 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 adoption of ZEUS, there had been no system for joint utilization of research infrastructure at the national or regional level. Therefore, female researchers had to win research and development project 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 weak network can utilize the infrastructure fully and people can obtain knowledge on research infrastructure operation anytime through mentoring program provided by ZEUS.

The policy objective of ZEUS is to utilize national budget for research and development efficiently, thereby maximizing the beneficiaries. Therefore, the beneficiaries of ZEUS 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 fee to researchers from SMEs and new researchers. With this policy support, the joint utilization of research infrastructure through ZEUS 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 (8% in 2011 to 4.3% in 2018) and increase in the joint infrastructure utilization that supports marginalized group (406 in 2019). We are also providing various information for the establishment of research infrastructure to 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.

ZEUS is originated from Korea Equipment On Line (KEOL) established in 2003. Dynamic Korean society started identifying cooperative system in research infrastructure sector voluntarily and as a result, KEOL began its operation to provide search function to find jointly available research infrastructure. Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) paid attention to the voluntary movement of the research field and has made an effort to establish the legal foundation since 2005 in an effort to register 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 paid attention to the fact that the management of infrastructure for science and technology leads to strengthening of 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 and established the 5-year national master plan 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 started providing ZEUS, a portal service for national research infrastructure. Starting from the appointment service in 2013, it has expanded its service scope to review support in 2014, transfer idle equipment in 2015, and enabled the addition of large facilities in 2016 in order to become the comprehensive information service that supports whole lifecycle of the national research infrastructure.

-Compromise and coordination not as a competitor but as partner of the policy- As each ministry and local governments started establishing own research infrastructure utilization system since early 2010, the competition within the government posed significant obstacles in implementing policies for integration. The MSIT overcame the obstacles by coordinating roles of various stakeholders and cooperating with each other on difference of opinions. Research infrastructure information collection system were integrated into a single services, but each ministry was assigned with individual tasks such as information checking, survey and operation of system to change the relationship from competitive one to partnership

【 Dynamics of R&D investment can be strengthened. 】 Korea’s R&D budget increases but the RI budget has been maintained at a certain level (860 million dollars) since 2010 with the increase in fixed cost. The System is an innovative policy that improves soundness of research and development investment under the current circumstances of Korea where 28 government ministries are making investment in the development of individually. ZEUS is possible to deter additional demand through the establishment of infrastructure based on joint utilization and promotion of management and reduced demand for establishment of infrastructure can be distributed to new investment.

【 Finding an answer from the operating examples of advanced countries 】 Upon designing ZEUS, the review of research equipment, and the establishment model run by the German Research Foundation (DFG) was used as a reference to the initial model. This was inspirational to ZEUS that wanted to maximize the benefits of national R&D project through efficient distribution of limited resources (national budget). 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.

【 Solution to efficiency issue of research and development budget 】 Policy on ZEUS 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 joint utilization program for ASEAN member countries. This was presented as an effective measure to improve local R&D to the local governments. Accordingly, the national model was monitored and 7 local governments are implementing policies for joint utilization by making ordinances. ZEUS is planning systems to strengthen cooperation with local governments at this moment and looking forward to another innovation model stemming from this. And Our case was also introduced in 2017 as a way to improve access to national research infrastructure at the OECD Global Science Forum.(https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/science-and-technology/digital-platforms-for-facilitating-access-to-research-infrastructures_8288d208-en).

【 Model suitable for stage when R&D policy starts 】 ZEUS is a model that links from R&D budget input to utilization, operation and management of infrastructure and recovery of investment as it is the policy to improve the utilization of limited science and technology research infrastructure. The procedures and implementation methods related to ZEUS policy were incorporated into acts/manuals and all management system was analyzed in the information system to ensure that the transference of the policy to other countries/organizations is done conveniently in a packaged form. In addition, the national level standards and utilization and management procedures are communicated in the form of law and manual respectively and systems are in place to update such laws and manuals periodically. Information system is being established to support all procedures and stakeholders in a manner that provides quantitative data on the evaluation and improvement measures related to policy. This is an innovative system that enables data-based decision-making, which is one of the big trends in the policy field. It is expected, in particular, that ZEUS can provide the optimized solution to developing countries which are in difficulties in establishing relevant systems and policies.

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

【 ZEUS that promotes virtuous cycle of research infrastructure policy 】 3 million pieces of information collected through ZEUS (100,000 pieces of information for research infrastructure, 1 million pieces for utilization information, relevant projects, papers and patents) make it possible to perform data-based decision making. National budget can be allocated to the right place at a right timing by identifying the current state of research infrastructure establishment and operation based on analyzed information In addition, ZEUS deters new investment through promotion of joint utilization and transfer of idle equipment, resulting in decrease on fixed maintenance cost and making it possible to make strategic investment in new areas. This is the major reason for maintaining ZEUS. In addition, ZEUS provides an opportunity to change the closed research infrastructure into open environment by sharing investment information and operating environment through the information system. This is expected to be the major role of ZEUS in the future.

Yes

【 ZEUS, always listening to voices of stakeholders】 The evaluation of ZEUS policy is composed of four steps (internal, external, system and economic feasibility). The internal evaluation is primarily conducted quantitatively by the MSIT and NFEC annually and evaluation results are published in the form of business report at the end of every January. Secondly, external evaluation is conducted in the form of a survey targeting external evaluators and stakeholders upon planning 5-year national master plan. The achievement of quantitative indicators and KPI are evaluated to incorporate the results in future planning. Thirdly, system satisfaction level evaluation is conducted targeting general researchers every year and it is increasing every year. ( 72% in 2015 to 82% in 2018) In addition, the collected opinion is incorporated into the system improvement. Finally, economic feasibility of the ZEUS system is evaluated on an irregular basis. This result is then utilized 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.

Quantitative indicators and quantitative indicators are used to evaluate the ZEUS policy. The number of quantitative indicators is 20, which are composed of input and output performance. Input performance is composed of the implementation of management system, joint utilization and utilization of infrastructure. Output performance is composed of scientific and technological, social and economic performance indicators related to research infrastructure. Upon forming a basic plan, 10 KPIs are established for quantitative indicators. The achievement rate of the KPI is evaluated quantitatively by incorporating the results into future plan. In addition, opinion of the stakeholders is compiled to be utilized for issue identification and KPI establishment for the future.

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 in order to evaluate effects of policy, monitor the policy implementation system and the satisfaction level of stakeholders. The evaluation results are utilized as the basis for improvement in detailed plans or in new plans. Then the external evaluation results are conducted twice (2012, 2017) and the opinion is collected through a town hall meeting, as well as a task force, survey, and expert meeting. There is a demand for the promotion of joint utilization and improvement of the national 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 on satisfaction and for the improvement of system every year. Satisfaction level is increasing every year and opinion for improvement is incorporated into system establishment.

【 ZEUS, innovative system through collaboration 】 ZEUS policy is based on integration and collaboration. 18 government ministries, with a professional operating agency under each ministry, 17 local governments and 430 research institutes are participating as stakeholders and the integration into a single system is physically difficult. Under the ZEUS system, vertical structure led by Presidential Advisory Council on Science & Technology (strategy), the ministry (planning) and expert operating agency (implementation) and research institute (benefit) was established. To coordinate opinion and role sharing among the different ministries, 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. To this end, we conducted integration of information system in parallel. We recognized the operation of each ministry’s system but made sure that all information are compiled and managed under ZEUS. In addition, the cooperation committee is gathered for a smooth operation and opinions of stakeholders are fully incorporated into creating policy.

【 Cooperation for innovation 】 The stakeholders of ZEUS policy include 18 government ministries, a professional operating 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 stakeholders. 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 ZEUS policy. Secondly, meetings where working level people from professional operating agency 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 research field collected through the expert council, policy presentations and town hall meetings. The opinion is collected from senior researchers, infrastructure experts, new researchers, researchers from companies including SMEs and NGOs. This is part of the effort to fully incorporate opinion of the policy beneficiaries, contributing to the improvement of policy effects.

ZEUS pursues innovation through change. This means the changes from individual ownership culture of the research infrastructure, which had been widespread in the research field. Korea achieved an astonishing economic growth. I think that the major reason was the open approach to new system. The success of ZEUS policy would not be possible without efforts and understanding of stakeholders. Three lessons could be learned in the process of implementing ZEUS policy. Firstly, policies with nationwide implications should be approached with strategy. Under the situation where all stakeholders implement their own policies, the one that tries to solve all problems at once could cause backlash. Therefore, we started from a collection of infrastructure information that can be utilized jointly. 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 stakeholders and arbitrating conflicts with strong leadership. Thirdly, consistency of the policy should be maintained and policy outcomes should be monitored continuously. The basic concept of ZEUS is integration. To this end, we maintained the consistent framework in terms of institution (law), policy (basic plan), project (advancement project) and organization (nfec) and continous monitoring on implementation status was done for policy incorporation.