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[Op-ed] Korea's universities and public research institutes spend 19.2 trillion won on R&D but earn only 280 billion won in technology fees

Policy2 min read

This is an opinion piece from a Korean tech news site. It says Korean universities and public research labs spend a lot on R&D but earn very little from their patents, and it suggests how to fix that.

What the article says

Korean universities and public research institutes spend about 19.2 trillion won a year on research and development (R&D). In the same period, they earned about 278 billion won from selling technology. That means they get back only about 1.4% of what they spend. The government has announced a plan to link intellectual property (IP, such as patents) more closely to research and to help turn patents into money.

Key numbers

  • R&D spending by universities and public institutes: about 19.2 trillion won a year.
  • Technology fee income: about 278 billion won, or about 1.4% of spending.
  • National R&D patent applications in 2024: 44,079. About 87% were filed in Korea only.
  • Only 3.2% of applied and development research projects were linked to an IP strategy.
  • Korean standard patents from 2006 to 2023: 51,439. Only 3.2% came from government R&D. Without big companies, that share rises to 46.1%.

Why patents alone are not enough

A patent is a legal right that stops others from copying an invention. Many countries are racing to file patents on key technologies, so a team that files late may find that others already own the important patents. The article gives a real case: a large company spent 10 billion won on a technology but could not sell it because it had not checked existing patents first. The article also says that Korea's public research has often measured success by the number of patent filings, not by money earned.

Why it matters

Patents only help if they are used. They can bring in money through sales, licensing, patent pools (groups of patents shared for one standard), or lawsuits. The article notes that ETRI, a major government research institute, earned 51.5 billion won from patents last year, its highest ever. Its success came from focusing on foreign patents tied to international standards. The article argues that Korea should judge research by useful results, such as patents that are registered in key markets and used in products, rather than by the count of filings.

What to watch

  • Whether the new IP plan for AI and humanoid robots actually changes how research is planned.
  • Whether the AI patent search tool (AI-IP solution) is used in real projects, not just handed out.
  • Whether the evaluation system starts to reward foreign patents, which cost more but earn more.
  • Whether ETRI's target of 100 billion won a year in patent income is reached.

Glossary

R&D
Research and development: work to create new knowledge, products, or technologies.
IP
Intellectual property: legal rights to inventions, such as patents.
ETRI
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute: a Korean government-funded research institute for electronics and communication technology.

Same story, different eyes

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