The science ministry has unveiled follow-up measures with regard to controversy over the government’s plan to slash its budget toward research and development(R&D) for 2024. 

The ministry said the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology approved on Monday two motions, including one on the government’s plan to renovate R&D and another on pursuing global R&D. 

The motions seek to exempt preliminary feasibility studies for projects related to the nation’s 12 strategic technologies, including semiconductors and artificial intelligence 

Also under the motions, the government will scrap a system that rates projects on successes so that projects which failed to succeed initially will not suffer disadvantages in terms of getting future government funding. 

The ministry also plans to change the way it operates government-funded research institutes. 

The current state of many such institutes carrying out research on the same field has caused overlapping problems. To address this issue, the government plans to designate one institute for each field of research and have that institute serve as a national technology center in that field. The envisioned center would bring together researchers studying that particular field to boost efficiency.