Researchers within the top 1% at government-funded research institutes under the Ministry of Science and ICT are expected to receive performance bonuses of up to 0.1 billion won per person in December this year.
According to the science and technology community on the 3rd, the Ministry of Science and ICT and NST (National Research Council of Science and Technology) will award performance bonuses to outstanding researchers at government-funded research institutes. This is a form of special reward. For the first time, the government will provide performance-based bonus payments to individual researchers at these institutes based on their achievements.
The recipients are researchers affiliated with institutes that received an 'A' (Outstanding) rating in the institutional investor evaluation among 23 institutes under NST. Among them, it includes the top 1% of research and technical staff recognized for contributing to each institute's representative research achievements. The affiliated institutional investors will recommend candidates to NST, considering both the excellence of their research outcomes and individual contributions.
The size of the performance bonus varies by institutional investor. This is because the maximum payable amount depends on the results of the institutional investor evaluation at each institute. Researchers at institutes that received the highest rating (SS) in the institutional investor evaluation will be paid 60 million won per person. For those with Outstanding ratings (S or A), payments will be 50 million won and 40 million won, respectively.
However, if an institutional investor uses its own funds to provide additional payments through a 'one-to-one matching' system on top of the government payment, the total amount could increase further. NST plans to recommend that each institute provide additional performance bonuses up to 100% of the government payment amount. For example, while the guaranteed bonus for outstanding researchers at an SS-rated institutional investor is 60 million won, if the institution adds its own funds, they could receive up to 120 million won in total.
However, since no institute received the SS rating in this year's institutional investor evaluation, the maximum amount per person is expected to be 0.1 billion won. According to the 2026 institutional investor evaluation results, two institutes received an S rating (△Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology △World Kimchi Research Institute), and 13 institutes received an A rating (△Korea Biotechnology Research Institute △Korea Institute of Industrial Technology △Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute △Korea Construction Technology Research Institute △Korea Railroad Research Institute △Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science △Korea Geological and Energy Resources Research Institute △Korea Machinery Research Institute △Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute △Korea Chemical Research Institute △Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute △Korea Materials Research Institute △National Institute of Toxicological Research).
Separately from the performance bonus for outstanding researchers, a performance bonus system for all employees at government-funded research institutes is expected to be introduced next year. The target includes all employees at institutes that received an A rating or higher in the institutional investor evaluation. For S-rated institutional investors, each employee is expected to receive 2 million won per person, and for A-rated institutional investors, 0.1 billion won per person. The Ministry of Science and ICT's budget proposal for next year has included a performance bonus allocation of 16.7 billion won for this purpose.
However, discussions on improving the basic salary—the core issue in enhancing working conditions at government-funded research institutes—appear to be stalling. It is reported that next year's basic salaries at these institutes will likely be similar to the civil servant salary increase rate (3.9%). As a large-scale exodus of top talent continues from these institutes, there are mixed expectations on-site that with the abolition of PBS (Project-Based System), a more comprehensive financial restructuring may also take place.
An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "We are seriously considering various methods not only to provide monetary compensation such as performance bonuses but also to boost the motivation and pride of researchers at government-funded research institutes," adding that "we will prepare practical measures."
in TECH
