The Planning and Budget Office and the Ministry of Science and ICT said on Sunday they will strengthen cooperation to improve the efficiency and consistency of R&D investment following the launch of the planning office.

According to relevant ministries on Sunday, this year’s R&D budget is 35.5 trillion won. Of this, 30.5 trillion won in major R&D spending, which accounts for 85.3 percent, will first have an allocation and adjustment plan drawn up by the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters at the science ministry. Based on that, the planning office will compile the final budget proposal.

This structure can reflect both technical reviews that consider the specific nature of R&D projects and fiscal analysis, but there has been some criticism that communication has not been smooth due to bureaucratic silos between ministries.

The planning office and the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters will develop inter-ministry collaboration by strengthening prior consultations and joint reviews during the R&D budget planning process. The two will build a cooperative system in which they hold sufficient discussions from the early stages and share responsibility so that technical expertise and fiscal management principles can be reflected in a balanced way.

The planning office and the science ministry will establish an 'R&D Budget Council' to institutionalise cooperation and communication channels. Following criticism that communication between the two ministries relied mainly on informal working-level discussions, they will in future operate a standing director-general level consultative body once a month on a regular basis.

The standing body will broadly discuss agenda items over time, including priority directions for government R&D investment, measures to improve spending efficiency and reviews of new projects. For major issues, the planning office vice minister and the head of the science ministry’s Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters will also hold vice-ministerial level consultations.

Mutual participation in the budget process will also be expanded. Following criticism that the division of roles between ministries has instead functioned as a barrier, the system will be improved so the planning office can participate in the process in which the Innovation Headquarters draws up the allocation and adjustment plan for major R&D spending.

The process for compiling the budget at the planning office will also be improved so the views of the Innovation Headquarters can be reflected. If the planning office adjusts the allocation and adjustment plan for R&D, it plans to hold sufficient prior discussions with the Innovation Headquarters and reflect its views through the newly established standing consultative body and other channels.

The management system for new R&D projects will also be improved. There have been cases in which some ministries and local governments submitted projects at the planning office’s compilation stage that had not been submitted at the Innovation Headquarters’ review stage.

Going forward, requests for new projects that were not reviewed during the Innovation Headquarters’ process to prepare the allocation and adjustment plan will, in principle, be restricted at the planning office’s compilation stage. Such requests will be exceptionally allowed only for matters that are important or urgent as national policy.

The improvement measures will be applied immediately starting with the process to compile the 2027 budget proposal. The two ministries plan to continue working closely in the R&D budget planning process so that expanding R&D investment is carried out more efficiently.