Park In-gyu (박인규), head of the Ministry of Science and ICT's Office of Science and Technology Innovation, attended a "2026 town hall meeting on key research and development (R&D) policies" held at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology on May 8 and shared the government's science and technology policy direction.

The town hall was the fourth and final event in a series of regional relay meetings at research sites, following gatherings that began in January in the Chungcheong region and continued in the Seoul metropolitan area and the Yeongnam region.

About 100 people from the research field, including Park, university professors, graduate students, researchers at government-funded institutes, research administration staff and industry participants, held an open discussion.

The ministry introduced key R&D institutional improvements, plans to advance the R&D commercialisation system, and the direction for promoting region-led, autonomous R&D.

The ministry will move to remove regulations by fostering a challenging R&D culture that tolerates failure so researchers can focus on their work without burden, simplifying administrative forms and expanding autonomy in the execution of research funds. It will push institutional innovation, including building an all-government "R&D outcomes diffusion expressway" and newly introducing investment-type R&D, so that R&D outcomes receive seamless support at each stage of growth. It also plans to roll out a policy of region-led "regional autonomous R&D".

During the open discussion session, participants discussed institutional improvements needed in the field and directions for supplementing policy. The ministry will reflect opinions raised through this on-site communication in future R&D institutional improvements and policy implementation.

Park said, "We will strengthen communication with the research field and enhance regional science and technology innovation capabilities to accelerate knowledge creation and contribute to national economic development."