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The National Assembly Futures Institute publishes reports that predict and analyze the changes in the future environment based on a comprehensive perspective, and derive mid- to long-term national development strategies in consideration of the preferences of the citizens
A Preliminary Study on the Meta-Evaluation of Mid- to Long-term Plans in the Field of Science and Technology

Date : 2019-12-31 item : Research Report 19-16 P.I : Kim Hong-bum

A Preliminary Study on the Meta-Evaluation of Mid- to Long-term Plans in the Field of Science and Technology

The purpose of this study was to apply the mid- to long-term plan meta-evaluation methodology derived from "A Study on Meta-evaluation Measures for the Government's Mid- to Long-term Plans” to major mid- to long-term plans for each field. This study therefore examined the current status of the mid- to long-term plans established and implemented by government ministries every 5 to 10 years and the composition and methods of various pre-evaluation systems, and conducted an in-depth analysis of major mid- to long-term plans in the field of science and technology. Based on the analysis, this study presented meta-evaluation measures to raise the effectiveness of the government's mid- to long-term plans.

This study first confined the subjects of the analysis to the Basic Plan on Science and Technology, which is the highest-level plan among the mid- to long-term plans in the science and technology field through the network analysis of the administration's mid- to long-term plans in this field. Following evaluation criteria, this study conducted evaluation in three areas including the composition of the basic plan, the establishment procedure for the plan, and its detailed contents, and based on the evaluation results, it examined the role of science and technology in national management and suggested a new direction for innovation.

The Basic Plan on Science and Technology is the highest-level plan in the science and technology field, and it has a great ripple effect on the government's science and technology policy direction setting and each department's plans. According to the research results from this project, predicting trends and future social issues that will affect science and technology innovation is essential for setting mid- and long-term policy directions. Nevertheless, when establishing policies, mid- and long-term policy directions have been set in line with the incumbent government's agendas and state administration stance rather than future forecasts. It is necessary that future predictions be made on a periodic basis by considering the importance of deriving trends and issues that will affect science and technology innovation policies and analyzing their ripple effects.

In addition, in terms of the connectivity of plans in the science and technology field, it was found that when government ministries set out a mid- to long-term plan, they tend to not to take into account the other ministries' plans, which lead to various problems. Therefore, it was considered ideal that comprehensive plans in each field inherit the contents of the basic plan for science and technology, the highest-level plan, and link them to sub-plans.

It is deemed important that the responsible ministries, participating ministries, the Ministry of Finance (budget authority), the National Assembly, related academic and industrial circles, and the public all participate in the planning process and discussion from the beginning and their opinions are collected and reflected in the process to form a consensus on the necessity of the mid- to long-term plans and related research and development projects among all stakeholders.

And, in the case of a basic plan on science and technology, it was considered necessary to establish and announce it at the level of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council rather than at the level of an individual ministry, and that it be announced by the president in order for it to have a strong feasibility (including the securing of the budget). As for mid- to long-term plans for detailed technology and application fields, since most of the R&D projects included in the implementation plan for the mid- to long-term plan are established and promoted based on it, it was deemed appropriate to list all R&D projects and the budgets.