South Korean media: South Korea's tech talents are flowing to China!

On August 25, South Korean media "Chosun Ilbo" published an article stating that an analysis of the global movement of South Korean tech talents shows that South Korean talents are flowing to China. The survey found that among researchers traveling between South Korea and China, 8 out of 10 are currently working in Chinese institutions. The outflow is about four times the inflow compared to the inflow of talents from China.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) released a report analyzing the domestic and international flow routes and activity types of researchers with South Korean backgrounds based on data.

The report, jointly studied with the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) at Leiden University in the Netherlands, analyzed 177,031 researchers who had worked in South Korea and their 1,125,674 papers, using paper data from 2005 to 2021.

An analysis of the global movement of researchers who had previously worked in South Korea showed that South Korean talents are leaving for China. The rate of talent loss was 82.6%. This means that among researchers moving between China and South Korea, 8 out of 10 are currently employed at Chinese institutions, while only 2 are currently employed at South Korean institutions.

The United States was analyzed as the largest source of South Korean researchers' outflow, as well as the largest source of inflow. The inflow rate was 64.8%, and the outflow rate was 35.2%. In terms of total scale, the number of inflowing researchers was 4,236, and the number of outflowing researchers was 2,296. The analysis showed that the United States is the main source of inflow of South Korean researchers.

From the ratio of talent inflow and outflow, India and Japan were considered countries with higher inflows. The talent inflow to India was 77.1%, and the outflow was 22.9%; the talent inflow to Japan was 74.9%, and the outflow was 25.1%.

Among researchers with South Korean backgrounds, 65.5% of them had their first institution in South Korea. Only 34.5% of the researchers moved from overseas institutions to South Korean institutions.

Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841428347331584/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.