Breakthrough in Quantum Computing: Researchers Achieve Milestone in Error Correction

Can South Korea regain its edge in innovation?

South Korea's reputation as a leading innovator is under threat. In a benchmarking report released by the country's Ministry of Science and ICT in February, South Korea had slipped behind China in science and technology development for the first time. The report analysed research papers, patents and expert surveys in 11 technology areas, including information and communications technology, defence and nanoscience. Such performance metrics are taken very seriously in South Korea, says Martin Hemmert, a global business researcher at Korea University Business School in Seoul. "This kind of benchmarking is a national obsession, and they will always find a data point telling them they're not doing well enough," he says. The report showed that South Korea had continued to close the technology gap to the United States, but being surpassed by China in the ranking was what made national headlines. "Koreans themselves would tell you that they're not very good at R&D -- even though, from an international perspective, the country is obviously a stellar performer," says Sung-Young Kim, a political scientist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, who studies the role of government in East Asia's economic transformation. For a country that has achieved remarkable economic development, a slowdown, especially compared with its competitors, is a source of anxiety for many South Koreans. In the wake of the Korean war, which split the country into the Soviet-influenced north and the US-influenced south in 1953, South Korea was one of the world's poorest and least developed nations. From the early 1960s, its strategic focus on manufacturing and export fostered a period of rapid economic growth referred to as the Miracle on the Han River. By 2018, South Korea's GPD per person measured at purchasing power parity -- a metric that adjusts GDP to account for price differences between countries -- surpassed that of Japan. "South Korea has become famous for mobilizing science and technology for industrialization and economic advancement," says So Young Kim, a science and technology policy researcher at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon. Yet signs that the country is losing momentum are hard to ignore. In the 1980s, South Korea's compound annual growth rate of GDP per person reached almost 12%, but had slowed to 7.2% in the 1990s, 4.8% in the 2000s and 2.4% in the 2010s. This figure has since stabilized while remaining below that of other advanced economies, including Canada and Italy. "We have been growing slower and slower, and the government is quite worried," says So Young Kim, who was appointed to chair a presidential commission in March, to propose solutions. "The new administration has been trying to revamp policies, institutions and funding structures to regain strength in science and technology, so that we can have another Miracle on the Han River." South Korea's history has had a big impact on the national psyche, especially its development of innovative military technology, says Sung-Young Kim. "It forged this mentality that technology is a source of national security," he says. The government designated strategic growth areas and pooled the nation's limited public and private resources to enable the change. Information and communications technology was one such priority area. Today, South Korea is a leader in fast broadband and next-generation mobile communications, but 50 years ago, there was an 18-month wait to connect a phone to the country's antiquated network, says James Larson, who arrived as a peace corps volunteer in 1971 and now studies digital development at the State University of New York Korea, a campus of the US university located in Incheon. To achieve development and growth in telecommunications and other priority areas, buy-in from the corporate sector was crucial. "The key incentive for companies that participated in state projects was the potential to completely dominate an industry," says Sung-Young Kim. The strategy catapulted a handful of companies, including Samsung and Hyundai -- originally a food exporter and a local construction firm, respectively -- into some of the world's most successful conglomerates. But funds were never given freely. "The government would attach monitorable performance outcomes, and the president would sit in on meetings and stipulate targets for companies," says Sung-Young Kim. During South Korea's period of military rule, from 1961 to 1993, repercussions for missed targets ranged from being cut from further funding to jail time imposed for company bosses whose performance lagged. The methods that today's democratically elected South Korean government uses to support economic development have evolved, but the philosophy of strategic investment tied to detailed performance metrics remains. The question now is whether such an approach can deliver the same results when the companies that were once propelled by government funding and projects have become global behemoths that are not so easy to influence. Manufacturing, meanwhile, is more reliant than ever on international supply chains, which are increasingly vulnerable. The COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine and Gaza wars have created challenging conditions for South Korea's export-oriented economy, as have heightened tensions between China and the United States. "With the US-China trade war, South Korea is again sandwiched between two great powers and finds that the only way it can really survive is, again, by digging into its strength in technological development," says Sung-Young Kim. Leveraging the innovation capacity of South Korea's well-funded academic research is a strategy worth pursing, according to a report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2023 (see https://doi.org/m8q9). But the government's characteristic approach of prioritizing sectors and micro-managing the research it funds doesn't necessarily foster innovation in the academic sector, says Hemmert, who contributed to the report. Another issue is that many people in South Korea are uncomfortable with the idea of providing ongoing public funding for researchers to pursue long-term goals, which makes it difficult for the government to secure support for such measures, says Sung-Young Kim. "This is a performance-based culture, so it has been difficult for people to accept that the government should be putting money into basic science" rather than more commercial areas, he says. In 2022, the government chose to focus its research investment on 12 strategic technologies, including semiconductors and electronic displays, artificial intelligence, aerospace, cybersecurity and hydrogen. "It is the very typical government strategy of picking winners to make the most efficient use of our resources," says So Young Kim. For researchers working in these areas, concentrating resources on their development is important for keeping up with rivals -- particularly considering China's rapid development, she says. But others in the academic sector argue that focusing funding too narrowly means neglecting areas of research where unexpected breakthroughs might arise. "Among our young researchers there is concern over whether fundamental research will be ignored because it doesn't bring immediate benefits," she says. Regardless of the work being funded, a more fundamental issue that is stifling innovation in research is the short-term nature of funding. "Our funding programmes are usually very short, typically one or three years," says So Young Kim. Mid-term performance milestones are set and a heavy emphasis is placed on measuring output in terms of top-tier journal publications and patent registrations, she adds. "If you are not successful in the current programme, there's no way to continue your research, because new funding is based on past records." The funding structure forces researchers to focus on quick wins. "For really cutting-edge research, you need a more patient approach," says Hemmert. He adds that research in Japan -- where the same topic can be pursued for decades in multi-generational labs -- offers an interesting point of reference. "Japanese scientists have picked up a good number of Nobel prizes, but South Korea has zero," says Hemmert. "When I looked at the profiles of Japanese Nobel scientists, they typically worked on some specific scientific problem for decades." Creating tailored programmes for funding science with the potential to be paradigm-shifting was a key recommendation of the OECD innovation review. "Of the many people we interviewed, many understood the need to support more high-risk, high-return research, and some in positions of influence were starting to work on it," says Hemmert. But the level of change required has not been fully appreciated, he adds. For example, South Korea's leading universities are highly regulated and lack autonomy. The government has designated some as 'research universities' -- including Seoul National University (SNU) and KAIST -- that receive more funds, "but instead of just leaving these well-resourced institutions alone to set strategies, there are still a lot of rules", says Hemmert. The government has improved ties between academia and industry. Conventionally, R&D in the close-to-market technologies that the South Korean government has thrown its weight behind is seen as being more within the remit of government research institutes than of universities. But since about the year 2000, the government has sought to boost knowledge flows from universities into industry, such as by permitting universities to create for-profit spin-outs, and by focusing on public-private partnerships. SNU, for example, has active participants in many research, development and demonstration projects in the green-energy industry, says Sung-Young Kim. Although the country's research universities often rank highly in industry-academia linkage metrics such as patents filed and spin-outs launched, there's room for improvement, says Hemmert. "They understand the need to collaborate more, yet when it comes to implementation, it's still a bit chequered." Promoting high-risk, high-return research is a good strategy, but there are many social and cultural considerations to account for. South Korea has the world's lowest birth rate, and its ageing population is putting increasing pressure on the health-care system. Previously, when science, technology and innovation were the government's focus, the brightest students were drawn to disciplines such as engineering, says So Young Kim. Nowadays, they pursue medicine, because it's a secure, well-paid and prestigious career with strong government support. In February, the government announced an increase to the national medical school intake quota from around 3,058 places -- a number that has remained fairly consistent since 2006 -- to 5,058 from 2025. "The top students are already choosing medical fields first, so by increasing the quota, what's going to happen to science and technology student enrolments?" says So Young Kim. Even at SNU, the leading South Korean institution in the Nature Index, "their engineering programmes have a hard time recruiting students from their own undergraduate programmes", she says. Recent policy changes have exacerbated this problem. In 2023, the South Korean government announced a cut to R&D funding by 16.7%, later winding it back to 14.7% after a widespread criticism. R&D spending remains at approximately 5% of GDP, which is far above the 2.8% OECD average, and some targeted cuts to certain programmes is probably warranted, Hemmert says. But the way the cuts were implemented to basic funding has a disproportionate impact on young researchers, says So Young Kim, because student and postdoc stipends come directly from a professor's own funding. The government is considering other options for encouraging young people into science, such as expanding a programme that allows men to serve out their 18-21-month-long mandatory military service by continuing to work in their university labs. "The bigger challenge, I think, is not how we design these extra benefits, but how we make studying science and technology a really fulfilling experience for those who are interested in it," says So Young Kim. She says that students and early career researchers often feel as though they are stuck doing manual labour in the lab, rather than being taught how to conduct research, which can be very unrewarding. "We need to find that intrinsic motivation for our students. Professors need to become role models, demonstrating that through this career we live a meaningful life," says So Young Kim. South Korea has an uphill battle ahead of it if it wants to regain its lead in technical innovation, but its historic ability to pivot in response to dramatic changes stand it in good stead, says Hemmert. "It's a question of understanding what needs to be done, and then having the right leadership to implement the change."

What will it take to open South Korean research to the world?

At the Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS), nestled in the hilly campus of Seoul's Ewha Womans University, director of operations, Michelle Randall, shows off the facilities. "This is where we isolate our scanning tunnelling microscopes (STM) from any vibrations," she says, pointing to an 80-tonne concrete damper, a mechanism that reduces interfering movements to near zero. Researchers at QNS are using STMs to image and manipulate individual atoms and molecules, chasing breakthroughs akin to last year's assembly of a device made from single atoms that allows multiple qubits -- the fundamental units of quantum information -- to be controlled simultaneously (Y. Wang et al. Science 382, 87-92; 2023). The work, done by QNS in collaboration with colleagues in Japan, Spain and the United States, could have applications in quantum computing, sensing and communication. What gives QNS its edge, says Randall, is the diversity of teams that populate its labs. "Our composition is 50:50, South Korean and international, and we are an English-speaking workplace as a result," she says. "We invest heavily in building relationships with our domestic scientific community and worldwide," she adds, pointing to one room with four women -- two South Koreans, one French, and one Iranian -- exemplifying the collaborative spirit. The diversity of the QNS team offers a glimpse of what research looks like in a country that is betting big on international collaboration. For 2024, South Korea has more than tripled its budget for global research and development (R&D) collaboration, committing to 1.8 trillion won (US$1.3 billion), up from 2023's 500 billion won. The investment, which represents an increase from 1.6% to 6.8% of the government's overall R&D budget, could see a shift away from using metrics such as university rankings, quantified research outputs and international student and faculty recruitment in favour of boosting ties with leading overseas research institutions in strategic areas. "There's a huge amount of money that has suddenly been assigned to international research. With this comes many opportunities," says Meeyoung Cha, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, in Bochum, Germany, who holds joint positions at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Korean Institute for Basic Science, in Daejeon. The budget increase is part of the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT's (MSIT) wider R&D Innovation Plan, announced in November 2023. It includes a new Global R&D Strategy Map, which will guide tailored collaboration strategies with specific countries based on their strengths in 12 critical and emerging technologies, such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum science. Industry strengths in 17 technologies related to achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating climate change will also be considered. In addition, MSIT has amended laws to allow overseas research institutions to directly participate in state R&D projects and aims to develop Global R&D Flagship Projects in key areas that will receive prioritized allocation of government funds. Such moves are designed to refocus South Korea's R&D, which has become stagnant over the past decade, according to MSIT, despite the country being the world's second highest spender on R&D as a percentage of GDP, after Israel. In 2023, South Korea's legislative national assembly approved a 14.7% cut to the overall 2024 R&D budget, from 31.1 trillion won in 2023. The cuts include shifting some more general funds for universities to a separate budget. "It seems that the term 'budget cut' really means redistributing money to more applied projects and international research initiatives," says computational biologist, Martin Steinegger, based at Seoul National University. Steinegger experienced a 15-25% reduction in existing grants, paid annually from the National Research Foundation of Korea, the country's main funding agency. This forced him to reduce conference travel for his students and use older hardware for research. "I have effectively less money than I did last year, but I can apply to many new things, it seems," says Steinegger. Changes could come next year, as South Korea continues to adjust its spending in science. In June, the government proposed a record 24.8 trillion won for R&D focused on basic and applied scientific research in 2025, which is up from 2024's 21.9 trillion won, although further details were not available at the time of writing. Off the back of such policy shifts, becoming the first Asian country to join the European Union's Horizon Europe programme, the world's largest research-funding scheme, is a major win for South Korea. Announced in March, the new partnership will drive collaborations between South Korean and European researchers in areas such as quantum technologies, semiconductors and next-generation wireless networks. South Korea is also forging bilateral cooperation agreements across Europe, such as with Denmark on clean-energy technologies and Germany on basic sciences, including the launch of a joint centre with the Max Planck Society, Germany's flagship basic-research organization, at Yonsei University in Seoul. Taking on more joint projects with Europe could help to diversify South Korea's internationally collaborative outputs in the Nature Index. The United States, which has deep historic ties with South Korea dating back to the Korean War in the 1950s, is the country's most important research partner in natural-sciences output, with a collaborative Share -- a measure of joint contribution to research tracked by the Index -- of 639.94 in 2023. China forms South Korea's second-strongest partnership, with a collaborative Share of 300.81, followed by Japan, at 114.88 (see 'Research ties'). The number of natural-sciences articles in the Nature Index that have been co-authored by China- and South Korea-based researchers has grown considerably in recent years, up 222% between 2015 and 2023, compared with US-South Korean output, which dropped by 4% over the same period. But South Korean researchers report that collaborations with China are becoming more difficult, particularly in technology areas. According to data from South Korea's national police agency, of the 78 cases of industrial technology leaks recorded between 2018 and mid-2023, 51 involved leaks to places or people in China. There is now also more oversight of collaborations with China than with other major research partners. "Researchers occasionally receive requests from their institutions or the government asking who is collaborating with China, says Cha. "They are aware that any collaboration may be monitored, creating a sense of censorship." In order to minimize its exposure to any supply-chain disruptions or political risks associated with ongoing US-China tensions, South Korea must look farther afield when establishing research links, says Lee Myung-hwa, who studies policy and innovation at the Science and Technology Policy Institute think tank, in Sejong. "The key is building trust with collaboration partners, which needs to be long-term, stable and maintained without being swayed by policy directions," she says. Cha highlights southeast Asia, a region that has long been of strategic and diplomatic interest to South Korea, as a place with untapped potential for joint innovation projects. "For instance, in Indonesia, there's no governmental institution in charge of AI," she says, which could open up the possibility of future collaborations around ethical and strategic development of AI technologies. In 2023, the South Korean government committed to boosting cooperation with southeast Asia in areas including cybersecurity and communications technologies, and with individual nations, such as Vietnam, to help advance digital transition and clean-energy sectors. "Huge collaboration could happen if we work together," says Cha. With more than 10 million visitors moving between southeast Asian nations and South Korea each year, the region could also be important to South Korea in dealing with its dual demographic challenge: attracting overseas scientists in a country that is traditionally conservative towards immigration, and retaining homegrown talent. Solving these problems is paramount, as South Korea contends with the world's lowest birthrate, driven by factors such as the rising costs of housing, education and childcare, a highly competitive and demanding work culture, and gender inequality issues, including the biggest gender pay gap among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members. Student numbers are also in steep decline, which is putting some universities at risk of closure. An analysis of 195 Korean universities published by Seoul-based institute Jongro Academy in March showed that 51 had failed to fill their enrolment quotas for 2024. Of those, 43 were located outside the Seoul metropolitan area, accounting for 98% of the total unfilled seats. To boost numbers, the South Korean Ministry of Education has announced new initiatives, including annual financial support for master's, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. These measures, which are part of the overall R&D budget, aim to incentivize mostly local students to continue their careers in research. For foreign students, the ministry wants to attract 300,000 of them by 2027 through its 'Study Korea 300K Project'. Students will be targeted at events and language centres abroad and science graduates may be offered an easier pathway to permanent residency and South Korean citizenship. Language proficiency requirements for admission will also be reduced. Scholarship programmes are being expanded, including the government-funded Global Korea Scholarship invitation programme, which will increase recipient numbers from 4,543 in 2022 to 6,000 by 2027. The ministry has identified India and Pakistan in particular as important sources of science and engineering talent. It's unclear whether efforts to attract international students will bring more of a spotlight to the challenges faced by those who are already in the country. Lewis Nkenyereye, who studies computer and information security at Sejong University in Seoul, expresses concern for the many foreign students who work part-time to satisfy the minimum bank balance requirements of their enrolments. Language barriers and administrative hurdles have led to some of them being deported for not having adequate permits, says Nkenyereye, who is originally from Burundi. "The government is aware that most foreign students have part-time jobs and should adapt its policies to better accommodate their needs," he says. Religious and cultural differences also pose difficulties. Muaz Razaq, a student, who left Pakistan to pursue his PhD in computer science at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, is involved in a small mosque-reconstruction project next to his university that has ignited strong opposition from segments of the local community. Razaq says he's heard many stories from other Muslim students across South Korea who describe being taunted by their peers over food choices and who lack designated spaces for practices such as ablution before prayers. Challenging conditions for foreign students might be contributing to South Korea's low levels of retention after graduation. According to a 2022 report by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Seoul, the number of foreign students that are earning doctorates in South Korea quadrupled in the period 2012 to 2021. But the proportion of foreign students who returned to their home country after graduation has consistently increased, from 40.9% in 2016 to 62.0% in 2021. It is hoped that government-funded initiatives such as the Brain Pool programme, which gives doctoral researchers access to up to 300 million won annually for three years, and Brain Pool Plus, which offers outstanding researchers with expertise in core technology fields up to 600 million won annually for up to ten years, can help to attract and retain foreign talent. MSIT also plans to introduce support programmes to help new arrivals settle in and build networks. Recent updates to visa rules for foreign researchers and students could make it easier for universities to attract overseas talent. In July, the Korean Ministry of Justice, which oversees immigration, greatly expanded the number of universities that are eligible to recruit foreign postgraduate and undergraduate students on D-2-5 research study visas and waived the three-year work-experience requirement for international master's and PhD holders to obtain E-3 research visas. The relatively low levels of English used at South Korean universities and research institutions is a major hurdle in the country's drive towards internationalization. The number of university courses taught in English has increased in recent years, but Korean remains the primary language of instruction at many institutions. This affects foreign researchers at all career stages because they often require help from others or full-time assistance to navigate the environment, particularly in administrative matters, says Steinegger, who can manage daily life in Korean, but needs staff to help him with paperwork. Seoul Robotics, a company that develops AI-powered software for autonomous driving and traffic management, has mandated an English-speaking work environment to attract international talent. Such a culture is unusual in South Korea; although many companies have English-speaking requirements, these are often not enforced, says Evan Thomas, business development manager at Seoul Robotics. "The ability to communicate in English without constant translation and cultural interpretation has been a significant advantage compared to more traditional South Korean companies," he says. Cultural attitudes towards foreigners can also hinder long-term retention, says Thomas. "Many South Koreans view foreigners as temporary visitors rather than potential long-term residents, discouraging them from settling in," he says. A 2023 survey by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, a government-sponsored research institute in Seoul, seems to back this up, reporting that less than half of the respondents say they accept foreign nationals as members of South Korean society. Given the shortages of local staff that are being recorded in strategic industries such as semiconductors and AI, it's a problem that South Korea needs to address. Another report, by the University of Science and Technology in Daejon and the Korea Industrial Technology Association in Seoul, found that just 24% of 300 South Korean companies surveyed had foreign staff. Many cited a lack of information about foreign students as the reason, suggesting that there is a disconnect between academia and industry regarding graduate careers. Hong Bui, a student from Vietnam, accepted a postdoctoral position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in April, after completing her PhD at QNS. Bui cites the limited permanent career opportunities that are available to international researchers in Seoul as one of her reasons for wanting to leave, despite having a positive experience in QNS's internationally focused environment. "South Korean companies often value overseas experience more than domestic experience, and many workplaces require Korean language proficiency," she says. As South Korea devotes record levels of resources to building ties with overseas institutions and attracting foreign researchers and students, its leaders hope that stronger research performance and innovation prowess will follow. But the success of such efforts hinges on the country's ability to foster a more diverse research ecosystem, with fewer cultural challenges for foreigners to contend with. "If the barriers are lowered and support is provided for overseas researchers to utilize South Korea's leading research facilities and equipment, I think South Korea will become an attractive country for conducting research activities," says Lee.

How South Korea's science stars are finding success

In the highly competitive environment of South Korean science, these rising stars stand out. They discuss highlights of their work so far, and how the country might address the many challenges faced by its early career researchers. The race is on develop alternatives to lithium-ion batteries that can charge quicker, last longer and pack more energy into a smaller space. Hye Ryung Byon, an electrochemist at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, and her team are developing technologies and materials for use in next-generation batteries. These include lithium-air batteries, which contain a lithium-metal anode and a cathode that pulls in oxygen from the air and binds it to lithium to generate energy, before releasing it again when the battery recharges. Because this set-up doesn't require space inside the device to store the cathode ingredient, such batteries have "at least three times higher energy density" compared with their lithium-ion counterparts, says Byon. In one of her most cited works, Byon and her colleagues demonstrated how using ruthenium oxide (RuO) nanoparticles as a catalyst can boost the electrical efficiency of lithium-air batteries by up to 73%. Byon began working on energy-related areas, including batteries, capacitors and electrocatalysis, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after gaining her PhD in her home country of South Korea. "I developed a preference for more practical applications and believed that they lay in fields related to energy," she says. Byon moved to Japan from the United States in 2011 to run her laboratory at RIKEN, one of the country's leading research institutions, before moving it to KAIST in 2016. Byon is also interested in the potential of redox-flow batteries, a type of rechargeable battery that stores energy in two large tanks of liquid electrolytes, for use in grid-scale energy-storage systems. Vanadium, a metal that is typically used as the electrolyte, is expensive to source, so researchers are investigating organic materials as a cheaper and more sustainable alternative. Such materials tend to produce reactive byproducts when a battery is charged or discharged, however, which can reduce the battery's stability and lifespan. Many also tend to be less soluble than vanadium, translating to lower energy storage. To address this, Byon and her colleagues worked with an organic material called naphthalene diimide, and designed a soluble and stable version that could be used as an electrolyte material. Byon says there have been periods in her career when her experiments have failed to produce results or were unable to be completed due to design flaws. She reflects that she "should have dedicated more time to expanding my knowledge beyond my immediate research focus, because breakthrough ideas often emerge from tangentially related fields". Byon says her experiences have highlighted the "insufficient social support and protection for scientists and their jobs", and emphasizes the importance of providing South Korean scientists with a clearer pipeline of career opportunities, as well as access to competitive salaries and recognition for their contributions to society. "Hopefully, these efforts will attract more individuals to the field and foster a thriving scientific community," she says. Women, in particular, face additional pressures, says Byon. "Although the government has encouraged childbirth and provided some monetary incentives, it's difficult to develop careers while looking after an infant in our highly competitive and conservative society," she says. The current institutional system just doesn't support young working mothers, Byon adds. "In many cases, women scientists delay marriage or children until they get to a stable position in their job." -- Sandy Ong Seung Hwan Cho draws inspiration from being able to synthesize materials and products, almost from scratch. "I fell in love with the beauty of making something new," says Cho, an organic chemist at Pohang University of Science and Technology in Pohang. "Only chemistry lets you do that." A key focus of Cho's lab is designing new types of organoboron compounds -- versatile building blocks with applications in agriculture, pharmaceuticals, plastics manufacturing and other industries. A type of organoboron compound, called 1,1-diborylalkanes, has become popular among organic chemists because it can be used in reactions that involve transition metals, a group of chemical elements that includes iron, copper and platinum. Transition metals play an important role in the types of chemical reactions that Cho and his peers are interested in, especially those that are inherently more challenging to pull off, he says. Another attractive trait of 1,1-diborylalkanes is that they can facilitate chemical reactions that do not include any transition metals at all. These types of reactions are useful in the development of new pharmaceuticals, as metals can leave behind impurities that are tricky to remove. "Expanding the scope of reactions using this method is one of the goals of our research group," says Cho. As a leader, Cho strives to offer his young lab members the kinds of opportunities for experimentation that he benefitted from in his early years. He recalls how even as an undergraduate student at KAIST, he was allowed to set his own lines of enquiry, which fuelled his appetite for discovery. Staying nimble and innovative will help South Korean scientists distinguish themselves from the global competition, he says, especially at a time when student numbers and research budgets are low. "We need to focus on groundbreaking discoveries and exploring new research areas," says Cho. Aside from having access to more funding, Cho believes early-career scientists in South Korea would benefit from having more mentorship and leadership programmes. "Traditionally, Korean society places a strong emphasis on hierarchical order, which can sometimes hinder open communication and feedback between junior and senior researchers," he says. Moreover, having a diverse incentive system that rewards exceptional young scientists will also aid in their professional development and prevent brain drain, says Cho. "Ultimately, creating a supportive and nurturing environment that values creativity, innovation and collaboration will be key in enabling the next generation of scientific leaders in Korea." -- Sandy Ong A collaborative culture between local technology companies and academic institutions is a major strength of South Korea, says Suk-Ju Kang, an electrical and computer engineer at Sogang University in Seoul. Compared with other countries, such as the United States, where moving from academia to industry can feel like a one-way street, it's common for researchers in South Korea to move back and forth between these sectors throughout their career, says Kang. This means there is less uncertainty and anxiety around building relationships 'across the aisle', which particularly benefits researchers who are working in innovation areas, he says. At Sogang University, Kang is developing video and image-processing technologies for next-generation televisions and gaming devices -- an area that is increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize performance and power efficiency. Kang and his colleagues are exploring a technique called super-resolution image reconstruction, which uses AI to convert low-resolution images into high-resolution quality, while keeping power costs low. He is also looking at ways to improve displays in virtual reality and augmented reality devices, which often sit very close to the user's eyes. "Images can be distorted or need to be displayed at ultra-high resolution due to the very close proximity of the display," says Kang. "Methods to improve image quality are implemented using AI technology, which enhances both the image quality and efficiency." Another area of interest for Kang is improving image-processing techniques for stretchable, foldable and rollable displays. The major challenge in developing such devices is that when the display stretches, the gaps between pixels increase, which results in reduced brightness over that area. "I developed a method that accounts for these changes in brightness per unit area, allowing the pixel brightness to be adaptively adjusted," says Kang. "This ensures that the display maintains consistent image quality, despite the stretching." Kang's research has caught the attention of South Korean companies such as LG, one of the world's largest television manufacturers, headquartered in Seoul, where he has worked on display technologies, and Naver Corporation, an Internet technology company headquartered in Seongnam, where he consults alongside his role at Sogang University. Kang says South Korea is becoming an increasingly competitive environment for scientists. Early career researchers often feel that there aren't enough senior roles for them to progress to, he says, which could be addressed by increasing the availability of permanent and full-time roles in academia. He adds that young researchers should be given more opportunities to promote their work at conferences and poster presentations, and calls for more initiatives to showcase the country's female researchers. Kang remains optimistic that real improvements can be made in South Korean science. "We can achieve better outcomes in the future," he says. -- Benjamin Plackett A better understanding of how memories are formed and maintained in the brain is important, because this shapes so much of a person's character and personality traits, says Sue-Hyun Lee, a cognitive neuroscientist at Seoul National University (SNU). "I find memory research fascinating because our sense of identity is based on our accumulated memories," she says. Lee's lab at SNU investigates how memories are encoded, recalled and updated, and how they might be altered during these stages. For example, changes in memory might occur when discussing childhood pictures. "You might remember experiencing one thing, but then your mother tells you that your memory isn't correct, and gives you some new information," says Lee. "You now have an updated memory, not the original stored memory." Since the 1960s, scientists have known that protein synthesis is required for memory formation, but Lee and her colleagues have shown that certain proteins in the hippocampus are degraded when memories are recalled, which makes them vulnerable to change. Studying memory-related processes such as these could lead to more effective treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental-health conditions, says Lee. "We could potentially edit or weaken traumatic event memories." Lee is also keen to figure out how recalled memories can affect people's behaviour. The bridge between the two, she says, is working memory -- information that we briefly hold in mind that facilitates learning, problem-solving and other cognitive processes. A very simple example of this is the notion that babies have no regard for money because they have no memories associated with its value. The memories strongly reinforced in adults "drives us to work hard to earn it and treasure it, rather than treating it as mere paper", says Lee. Reflecting on her career, Lee says she felt immense pressure to publish prolifically within a short period when she started out as an independent principal investigator. "But researchers, especially in basic science, need time to accomplish something valuable," she says. "If we can give young scientists patience and time to freely explore new ideas, they are more likely to become pioneers in their field." What's also important in cultivating a supportive research environment, especially for female scientists, is providing greater access to childcare, and to encourage their partners to share in family responsibilities, Lee says. She says she is fortunate because her husband is also a neuroscientist, so he understands the nuances and challenges of the job. But many female researchers have a difficult time managing household and career responsibilities, which makes institutional support key to improving retention rates. "I see many good women researchers give up their careers because of childcare," says Lee. "But it's not an easy issue to solve and it doesn't just happen in South Korea." -- Sandy Ong