Merger of think tanks drags on

A plan to reform the governance of state-funded research institutions by integrating 20 of them is dragging on due to opposition from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Under a plan by the Finance Ministry, 20 of the 27 state-funded think tanks would be merged into a single institution under the control of the National Science and Technology Commission, which allocates most of the government’s research and development budget. The rest would remain under direct control of the ministries of knowledge economy, land, education or food, or be privatized.

Former Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung, however, strongly opposed the plan in a meeting of related ministers just hours before leaving office two weeks ago, insisting that R&D should not be separated from industries. He emphasized his point by saying it was his “final word.” It was the third minister-level meeting where governance of state-funded research institutions was on the agenda.

“Since failing to reach a conclusion in the meeting (on Nov. 16), schedules for discussion are being delayed due to the passage of the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement bill and the replacement of the knowledge economy minister,” Kim Doh-yeon, chief of the NSTC said Sunday.

“Talks will continue as soon as the new knowledge economy minister is ready. Considering the National Assembly schedule, it would have been better if it was sorted out in the last meeting, but we still have time to discuss it.”

The delay in the R&D consolidation, the talks for which have been going on for years, is causing complaints within the government as well as the state-funded think tanks.

“The NSTC was launched out of discussions to integrate state-funded R&D institutions,” a government official said.

“I don’t know about the National Assembly, but the government should support in unison if the NSTC seeks to do its duty as the control center of science and technology policies.”

An official at a state-run center under the Education Ministry called for closure of the matter.

“Most researchers have nothing against the integration,” he said.

“Talks on the reform have been going on for years with no conclusions, making us all jittery. It’s time for closure.”

The government seeks to integrate the think tanks, which spend a total of 4 trillion won annually under different ministries, to avoid similar or overlapping research and to achieve more convergence in research.

The NSTC recently found that between 17 and 23 institutions were found to be conducting similar research on solar energy, development of new drugs and robots without any consultations. There were 19 research projects on next-generation display systems, 16 on next-generation cars and 11 on wind power.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)