According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL = Yonhap News) Korea had the 8th highest science and technology innovation capability in the world in 2013, up one notch from a year earlier, according to an evaluation of 30 member nations of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP) .

The country saw an improvement in quantitative indicators such as research and development (R&D) expenditure, but protection of intellectual property rights and other qualitative indicators weakened.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) announced on Jan. 27 that Korea ranked 8th in the national science and technology innovation capability evaluation results for 2013 among 30 OECD member nations.

The KISTEP has been evaluating the national science and technology innovation capability every year since 2006. To assess a nation’s science and technology innovation capability, 13 indicators in five areas – resources, environment, network, activities, outcome – are evaluated. The Composite Science and Technology Innovation Index (COSTII) is derived based on the scores of the indicators, and the COSTII of 30 OECD member nations are compared and analyzed.

MSIP explained that Korea’s overall ranking rose thanks to improvements in quantitative indicators including R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP, which climbed up one spot to rank no.1. In addition, the nation’s ranking improved in terms of both government R&D budget as a percentage of GDP (no.5 → no.2) and number of research personnel per 10,000 population (no.5→ no.4).

However, qualitative indicators remained weak: Korea’s ranking fell in such indicators as ‘protection of intellectual property rights’ (24th→25th) and ‘openness towards different cultures’ (26th → 25th), while ‘average citation rate per researcher’ was unchanged (29th). In particular, the indicator on entrepreneurial activities, which includes 2009 figures, fell from the 15th place to the 22nd spot.

In the ‘activities’ area, which reflects R&D investments, etc., Korea performed well and ranked 4th. However, it ranked 20th in the ‘environment’ area, which includes R&D incentives and culture-related indicators.

In the overall ranking, the United States (no.1), Switzerland (no.2) and Japan (no.3) were in the top group.

Sweden’s ranking rose from 5th to 4th, and the Netherlands climbed up from 7th to 5th. However, Germany dropped from 6th to 4th, and Finland saw its standing slide from 6th to 7th. Iceland slid from 8th to 9th, falling below Korea for the first time.

Lee Dong-hyeong, head of MSIP’s Science and Technology Policy Bureau, said in a briefing session held at Gwacheon Government Complex on the same day that “The ministry will improve the overall quality of researchers and research institutes by fostering skilled professionals in natural and engineering science, attracting high-quality human resources from overseas and carrying out strategies for nurturing government-funded research institutes.” Lee added that “We will also constantly enhance related laws and regulations to promote science, technology and innovation activities and enhance cooperation between ministries to improve weak indicators such as openness to different cultures and innovation environment.”