Science and technology has long been a symbol of cross-border cooperation. For about 20 years since the tip of the Cold War, scientists from world wide have collaborated for pure curiosity and the widespread profit of mankind, and have achieved significant outcomes such because the International Space Station and the Human Genome Project.
Today, the necessity for worldwide joint scientific and technological analysis is rising. Global challenges corresponding to responding to local weather change, stopping infectious ailments, and creating area are troublesome to unravel with the capabilities of particular person nations alone. The Korean authorities can also be conscious of this actuality and is increasing the inspiration for international cooperation, corresponding to increasing bilateral agreements with main nations and the EU’s participation in ‘Horizon Europe’.
The current worldwide cooperation in science and technology is exhibiting a completely different sample than earlier than. Rather than the best of “Let’s contribute to humanity”, it’s altering to a sensible concentrate on “what to give and receive”. For instance, the U.S. demanded restrictions on cooperation with China on the situation of supporting semiconductor technology, and the EU is defending its digital business by checking U.S. massive tech by defending private data. During the COVID-19 interval, a ‘bio-diplomacy’ technique emerged to supply genetic data of its residents to safe vaccines. As superior science and technology are acknowledged as strategic belongings that decide safety and industrial competitiveness, nations are shifting to a “selective cooperation” stance that cooperates solely with trusted companions.
As the extension and complexity of worldwide cooperation in science and technology develop, the necessity for home cooperation techniques to be subtle is growing. In specific, you will need to systematize data sharing and strategic coordination between ministries. This is as a result of a number of ministries promote cooperation with the identical nation below completely different circumstances in related technology fields, or as a result of the expertise of cooperation isn’t shared with different ministries, repeated trial and error can undermine the effectivity and synergy of cooperation.
In order to resolve this and proactively reply to modifications, you will need to take an built-in strategy and set up a authorized basis throughout ministries. First of all, a authorized and institutional framework that encompasses the essential rules of worldwide cooperation in science and technology, implementation system, division of roles between ministries, and help for researchers needs to be established to extend coverage consistency and predictability. In addition, a management tower with sensible coordination authority needs to be established to supervise cooperation between ministries and to coordinate cooperation initiatives based on nationwide methods. Based on this, it will likely be attainable to determine a long-term and built-in cooperation plan just like the US’s ‘Chip 4 Alliance’ and China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ and set up Korea’s personal aggressive worldwide cooperation mannequin.
In the altering worldwide setting, our methods should even be extra subtle. It is important to guide cooperation in areas the place now we have competitiveness, corresponding to semiconductors, batteries, and bio, and to complement capabilities via strategic partnerships in areas the place we’re comparatively weak.
In addition, it’s of paramount significance to determine a cooperative place that may maximize sensible advantages within the competitors for technological hegemony. There is a want for a constant strategy through which every ministry cooperates organically below nationwide technique reasonably than transferring individually. We want a extra systematic and strategic response now that now we have to assume about actuality reasonably than simply friendship and alternatives for cooperation in competitors.
[Oh Tae-seok, Director of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation (KISTEP)]