DESTINATION DAEJEON a Focus on Basic Research Is Shifting Scientific Resources from Seoul to South Korea’S Central City
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NATURE INDEX | SCIENCE CITIES DESTINATION DAEJEON A focus on basic research is shifting scientific resources from Seoul to South Korea’s central city. A researcher at the Institute for Basic Science's Center for Genome Engineering examines a modified lettuce. The centre will be relocated to Daejeon in 2018. BY MARK ZASTROW IBS reflects Daejeon’s prominence in South post-war poverty. The focus was squarely on IBS Korea’s bid to shift its research agenda beyond applied research and industrial development. outh Korea revealed its scientific prow- economic development and focus on more basic These included the Korea Institute of Science ess on the world stage when it hosted science. “It’s kind of symbolic,” says Yeongduk and Technology (KIST), the nation’s old- Expo ‘93, showcasing futuristic tech- Kim of the IBS Center for Underground Physics est research institute, and ETRI (Electronics Snologies like maglev trains and solar cars. (CUP), which plans to move into the new and Telecommunications Research Institute), The international event was not held in the building in February 2018. which pioneered development of the CDMA nation’s sprawling, bustling capital of Seoul, wireless standard for mobile phones. but 140 kilometres south, in the city of CENTRE STAGE As of 2015, there were 24 government- Daejeon, home to some of the nation’s most Daejeon is located near the geographic centre funded research institutes in Daejeon, employ- prominent research institutions. Twenty-five of the compact country. The city’s scientific ing more than 10,000 researchers. Most are years later, a building is going up on the for- reputation was forged in the 1960s and 70s, clustered in the research district called Daedeok mer expo grounds — the headquarters for the when the nation’s president, the dictator, Park Innopolis, along with the Korea Advanced nation’s flagship effort in basic research, the Chung-hee, ordered the creation of research Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Institute for Basic Science (IBS). centres intended to pull the nation out of its often called the MIT of Korea, and corporate S176 | NATURE INDEX 2017 | SCIENCE© CITIES2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. SCIENCE CITIES | NATURE INDEX research institutes like LG Chem. IBS EXPANSION South Korea is now the second-largest inves- DAEJEON The IBS, the government’s agship basic tor in research and development as a percent- science institute, is building facilities across age of GDP, after Israel. It has risen from one WFC 206: 95 the country, with plans to increase the current of the world’s poorest countries in the 1960s to 28 centres to 50. the 11th-largest economy by GDP. This growth SEOUL has led policymakers to increase investment in SEOUL basic research, with the hopes of winning the WFC 206: 488 DAEGU country’s first science Nobel Prize. 7 Created in 2011, IBS was conceived as South Daejeon Seoul SUWON 2 POHANG Korea’s version of Germany’s Max Planck Population1,2 .53m 0.2m Institute and Japan’s RIKEN. The institute is 0 4 at the vanguard of South Korea’s struggle to GDP per capita3 US$ 9,700 US$30,900 ULSAN reverse a recent decline in its output of high- GWANGJU 3 quality research. The country’s contribution R&D as % of GDP3,4 9% 3% to articles in the Nature Index fell from a BUSAN weighted fractional count (WFC) of 1,184 in Researchers4 34,300 05,700 2012 to 1,037 in 2016. Currently, IBS has 28 centres around the 5 Patents granted 5 0,700 DAEJEON country. Roughly a third will be located in the IBS headquarters in Daejeon — and the build- Ten IBS centres are currently located in Daejeon — more than ing has space for more. SHARE OF OUTPUT OVER TIME in another city in South Korea. Plans to elevate Daejeon’s scientific per- City-level contribution to the share of formance dovetail with government policy authorship in the Nature Index, measured by the share of weighted fractional count (WFC) to redistribute some of the nation’s political for that year, compared to South Korea’s share. and economic activity away from Seoul, even BASIC SCIENCE IN DAEJEON as the capital maintains its global reputation South Korea Daejeon Seoul The expansion of IBS across the country is having visible benets for the production of high-quality as a hyper-connected tech hub. “Our govern- 2.5 research. Since 2013, IBS centres located in ment has tried to boost other regions,” says Daejeon have increased their contribution to the SungYong Lee, a research fellow at the Korea 2.0 share of authorship in the Nature Index. Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation IBS research centres in Daejeon and Planning (KISTEP) in Seoul. 1.5 Other institutions in Daejeon He says many public and private labs were forced to move to other areas, including South 1.0 250 Chungcheong province, west of Daejeon and Busan, the port city in the nation’s southeast 0.5 Share of total WFC (%) 200 corner. Many South Koreans have been only too 0 willing to escape Seoul’s crowds, high rent, 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 150 and worsening air quality. For the past dec- WFC ade, Seoul’s population, at 10.2 million, has SUBJECT STRENGTHS 100 been stable or declining. Daejeon has about Daejeon and Seoul are strongest in chemistry and the physical sciences, when assessed on 1.5 million inhabitants. 50 For Korean researchers who have completed their contribution to the share of authorship in PhDs or postdoctoral fellowships abroad and the papers included in the Nature Index. 0 South Korea Daejeon Seoul are looking to move back to their native coun- 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 try, Daejeon’s relaxed vibe and lower cost of Output is based on WFC 2016 living can be attractive, says Jin-Soo Kim, the Chemistry director of the IBS Center for Genome Engi- BILATERAL COLLABORATIONS 40% neering, who has recruited many returnees. The number of bilateral partnerships between 30% E an institution in Daejeon and an institution in a r t LAB MIGRATION h Seoul has plateaued in recent years. 20% & e s Statistics from the Nature Index reflect these n e v c 10% 150 i n r o broader trends. Though Seoul’s WFC is more e i n c m s l than twice as high as Daejeon’s, that gap has e a n c 125 t i a s l y narrowed in recent years largely due to Seoul’s s h c P i e decline in output by 19.8%. Daejeon’s output n c 100 e has remained relatively stable. s A small but significant portion of Daejeon's 75 output can be attributed to researchers leav- ing Seoul for IBS headquarters in Daejeon — 50 intended to host a variety of centres to promote Life sciences the exchange of ideas and cross-disciplinary 25 1. Seoul Metropolitan Government (2016) collaborations. And the roughly 10 billion 2. Daejeon Metropolitan City (2016) Number of bilateral partnerships 3. Korean Statistical Information Service (2016) won (US$8.9 million) annual budgets that it 4. Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning (2015) 0 offers each centre — with minimum 10-year 5. United States Patent and Trademark Oce (2015) 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghts reserved. ©2017 Mac millan Publishers Li mited, part of Spri nger Nature. All ri ghtNATUREs reserved. INDEX 2017 | SCIENCE CITIES | S177 NATURE INDEX | SCIENCE CITIES commitments — have proven irresistible to is a challenge. “I cannot find good collabora- like the Korea Research Institute of Standards some of South Korea’s top scientific talent. tors who are medical doctors in Daejeon,” says and Science, with whom he works on low- That includes physicist Yeongduk Kim, Kim. He hopes to retain a small laboratory in temperature technology for particle detectors. who was formerly based in Sejong University Seoul to maintain ties with his collaborators, “It certainly helps to promote collaborations in Seoul. Kim applied to set up a centre at IBS if IBS will approve it. and make basic science easier than before,” headquarters. says Kim. The move to Daejeon was an easier deci- A NEW RESEARCH ECOSYSTEM Kwon hopes to make Daejeon a popular sion for him, given that the main facility he Boosting resources for genetic medical destination for researchers. His government used while at Sejong — an underground lab research is one of the Daejeon government’s released a 10-year plan last year that seeks to with a dark matter detection experiment — is top research-oriented priorities, says the city’s boost city-level science and technology fund- located far from Seoul, anyway. “There was no mayor, Kwon Seon-taek. Shifting the country’s ing to 200 billion won (US$178 million) by reason to stick to Seoul. I was happy to move research agenda towards more basic research 2026, up from 137 billion won in 2016, and to Daejeon.” Most of his team have moved as can’t be left solely to IBS, says Yeongduk Kim, recruit 10,000 more research personnel across well, although some have chosen to commute who believes government labs should focus academia and industry. between Daejeon, and Seoul, where their more effort on fundamental investigations. Kwon also hopes to encourage science that families remain. takes a more society-driven approach, rather Jin-Soo Kim is also set to move from Seoul than just economic growth.