The 2025 basic research budget has been confirmed at 2.3413 trillion won, the largest ever, and it is expected that active support will be provided so that basic researchers can focus on research stably.

The Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Yoo Sang-im) announced on the 6th that it has prepared the '2025 Basic Research Project Implementation Plan' and will fully implement the '2025 Basic Research Project' worth 2.3413 trillion won, the largest amount ever.

The 2025 Basic Research Project will: △ Strengthen the support system for ‘exploration and expansion of knowledge,’ which is the original purpose of basic research; △ Expand the research base of promising young researchers through various research opportunities.

In addition, we will enhance the innovativeness and strategic nature of basic research through various new projects to create an innovative and challenging research culture.

In addition, △the evaluation and institutional system will be improved based on professionalism and fairness.

First, we will promote academic diversity and expand the support system for basic research, which is the original purpose of knowledge exploration → accumulation → expansion, so that a wide range of researchers can steadily devote themselves to research.

To this end, we have excellent research in various academic fields. We have significantly expanded the scope of new projects for creative research (mid-career research) that broadly support research, and have also established ‘Leap Research’ to support follow-up research so that researchers who have produced excellent results can continue their achievements.

In addition, we will enhance the support system so that promising young researchers can expand their research base based on various research opportunities and grow into global researchers.

To enable new faculty to secure early research opportunities, cultivate research capabilities, and grow rapidly, we are establishing a ‘seed research’ program to further systematize support for new researchers, along with the existing support for excellent new researchers.

The 'New Researcher Infrastructure Support Project (Research Facilities/Equipment)', which supports the establishment of an initial research environment for excellent researchers, will also continue to be promoted.

In addition, we will foster an innovative and challenging research culture and enhance the innovativeness and strategic nature of basic research through various new projects that strengthen the link between national and social demand and basic research support.

In order to pioneer new academic fields through first questions, a new ‘Pioneer Research’ will be established to support transformative research in newly emerging fields. In line with the purpose of innovative and challenging research, intermediate review will be abolished, and tolerance for sincere failure will be expanded. In addition, in order to create a bold and challenging research culture, exceptions to the one-person, one-project basic research principle will be allowed for pioneer researchers.

The government will also establish a ‘National Agenda Basic Research’ in which it will discover and suggest research fields considering national and social needs, and plan and promote projects led by researchers.

In addition, in order to drive overall research innovation at universities, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Education are collaborating to provide a package (research, facilities, personnel, etc.) in the form of block funding for university-affiliated research institutes in areas of strength at universities. We are establishing a new ‘National Research Institute Project (NRL 2.0)’ that will be supported in the form of a research grant.

Lastly, to support efficient research based on expertise and fairness, the evaluation and management system will be improved and the research management system will be reorganized to be more researcher-friendly.

While introducing a differentiated evaluation system that matches the purpose and characteristics of various basic research projects, we also plan to prepare measures to expand participation so that the best researchers in each field can participate more actively in the evaluation to improve the professionalism and quality of the evaluation.

In addition, from 2025, an exception to the principle of fiscal year alignment for basic research projects will be applied through consultation with the financial authorities. This will enhance research stability and flexibility for researchers, thereby improving the quality of research. It is also expected that the burden of evaluation will be reduced and high-quality projects will be selected and managed by diversifying the timing of project announcements and evaluations throughout the year.

Minister of Science and ICT Yoo Sang-im said, “Next year, the Ministry of Science and ICT’s basic research support will focus on ensuring that researchers can pursue the original purpose of basic research, which is the exploration and expansion of knowledge, based on autonomy and creativity, and that young researchers can secure a wide range of research opportunities. He also emphasized, “The scope of basic research has been expanded through the linkage between national social demand and basic research.”

He also said, “I hope that the largest-ever basic research project to be promoted next year will help relieve the fatigue of researchers in the field due to last year’s R&D restructuring, and serve as a signal for increased trust in government support and the spread of positive energy.”

The Ministry of Science and ICT confirmed the '2025 Basic Research Project Implementation Plan' at the 'Basic Research Project Promotion Committee' on November 5, and began the process of soliciting new projects on November 6.

The individual basic research of the 2025 Ministry of Science and ICT Basic Research Project is scheduled to be solicited for new projects from November 6, 2024 to December 11, 2024, and the group research support project is scheduled to be solicited from November 6, 2024 to February 3, 2025. After selection evaluation, research is scheduled to commence on March 1 and June 1, respectively.

Detailed information, including the 2025 Ministry of Science and ICT basic research project new project call content and schedule, can be found on the Ministry of Science and ICT and National Research Foundation of Korea websites.