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Mission-Oriented by Design, Selectively Delivered
Title: Mission-Oriented by Design, Selectively Delivered: Evaluating Korea's Umbrella Plan for Societal Challenges from Inside the Policy Cycle
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Abstract:
Within Korea's science, technology and innovation policy, one instrument is dedicated to societal challenges: the Comprehensive Plan to Address Societal Issues Based on Science and Technology. In OECD terms it is an overarching mission-oriented framework rather than a single mission. It is mandated by law, renewed every five years, and now in its third cycle (2023–27, "CP3"). Led by the science ministry, it spans some 25 ministries and local governments and covers around 7% of government R&D. It works on two layers: ten action lines to upgrade the whole R&D system for societal challenges, and five core problems treated as missions (ageing, cybercrime, fine particulate matter, microplastics, household waste).
This talk draws on a retrospective evaluation of CP3 being carried out inside the policy cycle, as the evidence base for the next plan due in 2027. It first characterises the plan's design against the OECD's mission-oriented policy framework, which synthesises the academic MOIP literature, along its three dimensions of strategic orientation, policy coordination and implementation. It then examines how the ten action lines fared against their stated commitments, sorting them into those delivered and those not. Rather than a line-by-line scorecard, the talk offers an insider's reading of what distinguishes the two: the level at which the plan is anchored, its links to other national plans, portfolio management, and how R&D and non-R&D resources are secured. It closes with what this implies for evaluating umbrella missions of this kind.
Bio:
Jeehoon Ki is an Associate Research Fellow at KISTEP, the institute that supports Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT in designing science and technology policy and evaluating government R&D. He works on mission-oriented innovation policy for societal challenges and currently leads the evaluation of Korea's third Comprehensive Plan to Address Societal Issues Based on Science and Technology, which forms the evidence base for its next iteration. He is a member of the OECD's MOIP Steering Group and has contributed to OECD work on mission-oriented policy as speaker, expert reviewer and interviewee. His research has appeared in Research Policy and Technological Forecasting & Social Change.