Friday, August 1st, 2014
The government will make R&D investment of more than 1 trillion won in basic science and technology next year. In addition, it will expand support to entrepreneurial firms and small businesses. The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning held a national science and technology deliberation committee meeting on July 31 and approved a plan to increase the R&D budget for the fiscal year 2015 to 12,390.2 billion won, up 2.3 percent from this year.
Of this, the government will set aside 1,039.0 billion won on basic science and technology research and development, up 4.2 percent from this year. In the area of future growth engine exploration, it assigned 1,072.4 billion won, up 7.5 percent. In the areas of software and content development, 297.4 billion won and 235.4 billion won, respectively, will be allotted. For support to entrepreneurial firms and small businesses, a budget of 1,316.8 billion was allocated.
A ministry official said, "The R&D budget approved in the deliberation committee is the minimum amount and is subject to change upward after tax revenue and appropriations plans are confirmed with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the National Assembly deliberates on the draft."