Identifying the Policy Direction of National R&D Programs Based on Data Envelopment Analysis and Diversity Index Approach

Abstract

The Korean government has been continuously conducting diverse national R&D programs to discover new growth engines. The Republic of Korea is one of the countries with the largest investment in national R&D, but its efficiency was relatively low. In response, this study established a framework to identify the characteristics and direction of outstanding R&D programs. In this study, the performance of the R&D programs was identified in the sub-program unit. The efficiency of the national R&D program was analyzed using the data envelopment analysis model through the outputs of the national R&D programs such as papers and patents. However, patent and paper output would take time to be realized. Therefore, this study also calculated the diversity index of R&D programs to identify their potential expected performance. This study applied the suggested framework in the electric vehicle fields, which is one of the core growth engines of South Korea. A list of outstanding programs was identified from the National Institute of Science and Technology Information (NTIS) data. Additionally, this study also discovered the main technology areas and their current issues of outstanding and brand-new R&D programs. These results could contribute to suggesting the policy direction to conduct high-performance national R&D programs.

How Can Funding Drive Firm’s Performance in the In Vitro Diagnostics Industry?

“…Despite the need for diagnostic testing, there is a high market uncertainty in non-outbreak periods, so continuous government investment is essential to support the IVDs market [14]. Therefore, the Korean government has maintained continuous large-scale support for IVD companies to foster the industry [15,16]. Although the IVDs market in Korea is continuously growing, it is still relatively small and is mostly composed of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) without a global leading company, meaning it is classified as a latecomer country [17].…”