South Korea

South Korean spending on R&D increased 10.2% last year to $28 billion to make up 3.37% of GDP, according to a government survey conducted between March and July this year. The public and private sector represented 26.8% and 72.9% of 2008 R&D expenditures, respectively. Foreign R&D represented 0.3%. By source, private companies, public research institutes and universities made up 75.4%, 13.5% and 11.1%, respectively, of R&D spending last year. Development accounted for 64.3% of total 2008 R&D spending, while 19.1% was for applied research and 16.1% was for basic research. Nanotechnology, biotechnology and environmental technology made up 12.3% and 7.6% and 8.5% of R&D spending, respectively. The number of researchers grew 3.8% to 300,050, with 65.7% working at private companies, 27.4% working at universities and 7.0% working at public research institutions. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology stated that the government plans to increase R&D spending 10.5% next year.

Source: The Korea Herald

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