PUBLIC VALUE: Impacts of Government R&D Funding on R&D Performance

Purpose: Government R&D investment maintains the expansion of R&D investment in key promotion fields such as finding future growth engines, economic innovation, and future biotech strategy. It is necessary to im-prove the efficiency of R&D investment in response to the worsening financial condition of the government, as manifested by slowing economic growth and increasing welfare demand. This study aims to analyze the factors affecting R&D performance, focusing on government funding. We investigate the impact of research papers, patents, and commercialization performance by controlling characteristics of researchers who have received government projects. We expect to present policy ideas that can enhance R&D performance. Method: This study applies multiple regression to the analysis. The data used in this survey are data on the implementation status and performance of national R&D projects by the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Information and the Korea Science and Technology Evaluation. This survey provides basic data for promoting evidence-based efficient national R&D projects and presenting policy direction. The study will use the most re-cently published data for 2016. Results: Government R&D funding has a positive effect on enhancing scientific and technological perfor-mance, SCI, and Patents. But there is no effect on commercialization of the Government R&D funding. Second, it is shown that SCI, Patents, and commercialization are higher in project status than a new project. Third, in the case of SCI, patents, the performance of government-affiliated and universities, is generally higher than the National Institute. Fourth,fundingon new technologies ofIT sector showed higher performance than SCI and Patents. Finally, rural variables have higher commercialization performance in other regions than Seoul, In-cheon, and Gyeonggi. Conclusion: This suggests that Government R&D should continue to be supported. Also, the government R&D support on Government-affiliated and universities plays a positive role. Our findings suggest that Govern-ment R&D funding should be concentrated on technology characteristics. As well as, Government R&D funding should take regional characteristics into account when considering commercialization performance.