The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Minister Ahn Deok-geun) and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (President Min Byeong-ju) announced on the twenty third the outcomes of an R&D investment survey of the highest 1,000 corporations with domestic R&D investment in 2023.
Sales of the highest 1,000 corporations investing in R&D decreased by 2.8%. Nevertheless, R&D investment amounted to 72.5 trillion won, a rise of 5.8 trillion won (8.7%) in comparison with 2022, and accordingly, the ratio of R&D investment to sales increased from 3.9% to 4.4%.
The highest 10 corporations in investment size invested a complete of 45.5 trillion won, and the highest 50 corporations invested a complete of 56.6 trillion won, accounting for 62.7% and 78.1% of the overall R&D investment of the highest 1,000 corporations, respectively. There are nine corporations, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motors, SK Hynix, and LG Electronics, that invested greater than 1 trillion won, and Samsung Electronics’ investment amount was found to amount to 23.9 trillion won (32.9% of the overall), which is larger than the overall investment of 21.6 trillion won by corporations ranked 2nd to tenth.
The highest 1,000 corporations included 171 large corporations, 491 medium-sized corporations, and 338 small and medium-sized corporations. Amongst mid-sized corporations, NCSoft (KRW 467.1 billion, seventeenth) and Korea Aerospace Industries (KRW 408.8 billion, nineteenth) invested probably the most in R&D, and amongst small and medium-sized corporations, RigaChem Bioscience (KRW 79.7 billion, 69th) invested probably the most in R&D. Particularly, the variety of mid-sized corporations increased by 84 in comparison with 407 in 2014, and 33 mid-sized corporations were included in the highest 100 corporations, progressively playing a number one role within the innovation ecosystem.
The highest 1,000 domestic corporations have expanded their R&D investment by a median of 6.6% per yr over the past 10 years, but as of 2022, only 47 of the highest 2,500 corporations with global R&D investment are Korean. As well as, it ranked ninth, behind not only major countries corresponding to the USA (827), China (679), Japan (229), and Germany (113), but in addition Taiwan (77), and in the highest 50 was Samsung Electronics (seventh). Only included.
As well as, the investment amount is about one-fourth of the 301 trillion won investment by 679 corporations in China as of 2022, and about one-tenth of the 715 trillion won investment by 827 corporations in the USA.
Lee Min-woo, Director of Industrial Technology Convergence Policy, said, “The rise in corporate R&D investment has driven industrial technology innovation, but in comparison with global corporations, the quantity of R&D investment by domestic corporations could be very small.” “There’s a necessity for priming investment from the federal government,” he said.
Reporter Lim Da-jun ydj@aitimes.com
