According to Yonhap News Agency, the South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT’s “2024 Technology Level Assessment Results” submitted today show that the technological gap between South Korea and China has widened further in the past two years across 136 core scientific and technological areas in 11 key national areas.
In particular, South Korea, which previously held a leading position in the field of secondary batteries (also known as rechargeable batteries or storage batteries) among national strategic technologies, has been overtaken by China.
The report shows that by 2024, the gap between South Korea and the United States will narrow from 3.2 years to 2.8 years, a reduction of 0.4 years. However, compared with China, South Korea was overtaken for the first time in 2022, when the gap was 0.2 years; now this gap has widened to 0.7 years, an increase of 0.5 years.
According to investigation, the report is evaluated and published every two years, covering key science and technology in 11 major fields, including construction and transportation, disaster safety, aerospace and marine, defense, machinery manufacturing, nanomaterials, agriculture, forestry, fisheries and food, life, health and medical, energy resources, environment and meteorology, information and communication technology (ICT) and software (SW).
This assessment integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses of 136 core national technologies across 11 fields. The quantitative assessment was based on an analysis of papers and patent data from the five major economies of China, the US, Europe, Japan, and South Korea, while the qualitative assessment incorporated survey opinions from 1,180 experts.
The report shows that South Korea and China’s technological levels have continued to rise, while Japan’s have declined since 2016 and the EU’s since 2020. Specifically, Japan’s technological level is currently only 99.30% of China’s, while South Korea’s is 95.39% of China’s.
In an assessment of 50 national strategic technologies, South Korea lagged behind the United States by 2.6 years, while China lagged by 1.4 years, with China closing the gap more rapidly. South Korea narrowed its gap by 0.4 years compared to 2022, while China narrowed it by 0.8 years during the same period, more than twice as much as South Korea.
According to reports, rechargeable batteries were the only technology area that ranked first in South Korea’s 2022 assessment, leading China by 0.9 years at that time. However, in the latest assessment report, China not only surpassed South Korea to become number one globally, but also widened the gap to 0.2 years.
In the semiconductor and display sector, South Korea ranked second in 2022, with a slight technological lead of 0.1 years at that time. However, in the latest assessment report, China has overtaken South Korea.
In the field of artificial intelligence (AI), South Korea is assessed at 80.6% of the US level, a gap of 2.1 years. In contrast, China’s technology level is equivalent to 93.0% of the US level, a gap of only 0.9 years, with China and the US far ahead of Europe, Japan, and South Korea.
