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Report that suggests the national future strategies based on the analysis of major future issues by the research team
[National Future Strategic Insight] Challenges and Innovative Measures of Mid- to Long-Term Plans for Strengthening Future Capabilities: Focusing on Science and Technology Sectors (No. 15)

Date : 2021-04-01 Writer : Yeo Yeong-jun

Dr. Yeo Yeong-jun (Associate Research Fellow) has defined major policy issues that Korean government tends to face in the mid- to long-term plans for science and technology sectors as follows: (1) limited adaptation to changes in policy environment due to low autonomy; (2) impaired continuity of policies depending on the party which is in power; (3) limited policy coherence due to insufficient coordination between ministries and agencies; (4) unproven feasibility due to the constraints of evidence-based policy making; and (5) impaired effectiveness due to vast number of policies implemented simultaneously.

Dr. Yeo’s study was performed based on his awareness of that Korea’s lack of policy effectiveness although it  has established a variety of mid-to-long-term plans for science and technology across the diversified fields every 5 years. He pointed out that improvement has not been actively carried out without systematic studies to support learning and understanding of the failure causes. Accordingly, 10 major policy innovations were presented to enhance the effectiveness of mid- to long-term strategies in the national science and technology sectors as follows: (1) mutual coherence between the national mid- to long-term visions and plans; (2) systematic information on the feasibility of the planning process; (3) systematic consideration of inter-ministerial cooperation and cooperative governance; (4) comprehensive consideration of various stakeholders involved in the goal;(5) development and diversification of methodologies to strengthen policy learning;(6) validity and objectivity of step-by-step performance goal; (7) systematic review on compatibility of technical elements; (8) enhanced logical causality between goals, strategies, and tasks in the plan; (9) flexible and strategic revisions in accordance with changes in the environment; and (10) legal engagement and frameworks for meta-evaluation of mid- to long-term plans.

This report was written based on the combined outcomes obtained from text network-based quantitative analysis and interview-based qualitative analysis, found in the “Meta-Evaluation of Government’s Mid- to Long-Term Plans: Science and Technology Sectors” conducted last year at NAFI.

“The desirable goals and values should be integrated, especially in this era of uncertainty, which are herein national mid- to long-term plans and development strategies,” said Dr. Yeo. “We are expected that this study will be a contribution to supporting the policy design and implementation by feeding back takeaways into the future-proof policy process.”


* “National Future Strategic Insight” is a brief report which is issued every two weeks to provide strategic insights for our future based on in-depth analysis of major issues made by professional researchers at the National Assembly Futures Institute (NAFI).