Time to Prepare for NIS 3.0 

In the era of technological hegemony, preoccupation with strategic technology and securing a competitive edge are the key to national survival. While the global economic system passed the Cold War era, gone beyond the prevailing neoliberalism and has entered the race for hegemony, science and technology played a key role in overcoming numerous crises and economic growth that Korea experienced. Korea has established this experience as a large policy framework called the national innovation system, and is continuing its efforts for national innovation with the current NIS2.0 system. At a time when the competition for technological supremacy intensifies, the new government's science and technology policy should take additional care of 'national strategy'. It is difficult to predict the hegemonic impact on the economy and society only by helping innovators to act freely.

It is necessary to prepare NIS 3.0 which includes the national strategic nature of science and technology. In NIS3.0, freedom of innovation and duties must be duplicated and dealt with together. It is necessary to establish a universal base area that supports liberal R&D and a purposeful mission area that prepares for and responds to strategic needs for issues that have a great impact on the people. Fortunately, in the course of successful development, Korea has built and operated a think tank that can be used as an infrastructure for a national mission-type innovation system. The Economic, Humanities and Social Research Council (NRC) and 26 national research institutes in each field form one axis, and the National Science and Technology Research Council (NST), which researches and develops science and technology, and 25 science and technology research institutes form the other axis. Centered on the Science and Technology Research Society, science and technology research institutes conduct convergence researches and the Society for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences is promoting cooperative research between national research institutes separately. In order to solve the mission-type tasks derived from the Ministry of National Strategy, research institutes belonging to the two research societies must first approach an integrated research that encompasses ‘policy’ and ‘technology’. In NIS 3.0, there should be an open innovation platform where national think tanks meet with various innovative actors such as universities and companies in the field of universal science and technology innovation to cooperate on mission tasks for national strategic purposes.

As the development era when the government played a role in providing knowledge and technology for national growth that the private sector did not came to an end, state-run and science research institutes, which are national think tanks, have been repeatedly requested and tried for innovation of the institute for the past 20 years since the 2000s, but there were frequent conflicts as they could not find a clear path.

In order to establish the national strategic objective mission field in NIS 3.0 as a cooperative system centered on the national think tank, the way the government contributes or supports budgets to national think tanks needs to be overhauled. The basic research project promoted by the government subsidy is like processing raw stones to make gemstones, the consignment business secured by individual institutions is like making necklaces by weaving the jewels. In consideration of this, Strategic financial investment needs to be made in a way that the basic research project sets the investment direction for the purpose of building knowledge technology research capabilities for each institution, and promotes convergence research between research institutes and innovative entities related to national policy through a consigned research project. It should be structured to linked to major policies and R&D according to the role of individual ministries in the integrated policy of national strategic objective task tasks, and a designated entrustment system should be established from the individual researcher entrustment method to the research institution responsibility entrustment method.

I hope that based on the capabilities accumulated over the past 60 years by an intellectual group that researches national policies and science and technology that Korea has developed nationally, we will go beyond technological hegemony with national innovation beyond scientific and technological innovation.

Mi Ock Mun

President

Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI)