Ministry of Science and ICT to Merge Affiliated Public Institutions... K-DATA to Become an Affiliated Organization of NIA

Integration of the National Research Foundation and Technology Commercialization Promotion Agency
Establishment of the 'National Science Museum Foundation' by Merging Four Regional Science Museums

The government will merge the Korea Data Agency (K-DATA) into the National Information Society Agency (NIA) as an affiliated institution and will also combine the National Research Foundation of Korea with the Korea Technology Commercialization Promotion Agency. In addition, the government will establish a new 'National Science Museum Foundation' by integrating the four regional national science museums located in Daegu, Gwangju, Busan, and Gangwon.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on September 15 that, in line with the 'Plan for Public Institution Function Reform' released by the government on September 3, it will push forward with functional reforms of its affiliated public institutions.

Korea Research Foundation building. The Asia Business Daily DB

First, K-DATA will be integrated into NIA as an affiliated institution. The aim is to improve the effectiveness of data policy implementation in response to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) by linking NIA's data policy support functions with K-DATA's functions related to data industry promotion, utilization, and distribution within a single organization. The plan is to maintain K-DATA's expertise in the data industry and its on-site response capabilities, while connecting them to NIA's policy support functions.

From R&D to Commercialization, Linked Within One Organization

The national research and development (R&D) support system will also change. The Ministry of Science and ICT will integrate the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Korea Technology Commercialization Promotion Agency, with the commercialization promotion agency becoming an affiliated institution under the foundation.

The National Research Foundation has been mainly responsible for supporting basic and fundamental R&D, while the Commercialization Promotion Agency has focused on technology transfer and commercialization of research outcomes. By merging the two institutions, the aim is to strengthen linkages across the entire R&D cycle, from providing R&D project support to discovering achievements, and on to technology transfer and commercialization.

The industry networks maintained by the Commercialization Promotion Agency will also be utilized at the R&D project planning stage. The plan is to identify public and private sector technology needs and reflect them in R&D project planning, while excellent outcomes generated during research will then be further linked to technology transfer and commercialization.

The operating structure of regional national science museums will also be reorganized. Four museums currently operating as separate entities—the Daegu National Science Museum, Gwangju National Science Museum, Busan National Science Museum, and Gangwon National Specialized Science Museum—will be integrated to establish a tentatively named 'National Science Museum Foundation.'

Exhibition and educational content, which each museum used to develop individually, will now be jointly planned and collection materials will be shared. Based on the increased scale, there are plans to hold large-scale special exhibitions, expand research infrastructure, and broaden exchanges and cooperation with overseas science museums. The Ministry of Science and ICT has stated that the unique attributes and strengths each museum has accumulated so far will be maintained.

The functions of R&D Special Zone F&S, a subsidiary of the Innopolis Foundation, will also be separated. Facility management and janitorial work will be transferred to the Science and Technology Facility Management Team, while security and guidance work will each be assigned to the Science and Technology Security Management Team. The Foundation will thereby reduce its burden of managing subsidiaries and focus on core tasks in fostering special R&D zones such as local autonomy in R&D and Deep Tech start-up incubation.

The Postal Employees' Pension Management Team, which has 12 staff members, will be merged into the Postal Facility Management Team. A dedicated center for postal employees' pension management will be established within the Postal Facility Management Team to continue its existing pension management work.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to initiate follow-up procedures such as preparing and revising the necessary regulations for the institutional mergers. During the integration process, the principle will be to guarantee employment succession and maintain existing working conditions, while gathering opinions from related ministries, local governments, and labor unions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.