The challenges facing South Korean academics in Horizon Europe

In March this year, South Korea struck a deal to become the first Asian country – other than Türkiye – to associate to Horizon Europe.

It’s a big leap east for the €95.5 billion EU research and innovation programme, and the deal will officially link Europe with a nation that leads the world in areas including semiconductors and electronics.

For calls starting next year, Korean academics will be able to directly receive EU funds, doing away with the cumbersome need to find their own matching funding to join Horizon Europe projects. It’s part of a wider effort by Seoul to fund its researchers to do more collaborative work overseas, even as it cuts domestic R&D budgets.

But several challenges await Korean researchers and their potential European partners around language, networks, culture and administration that could stop South Korea from smoothly integrating into the programme.

Science|Business spoke to several Korea-based academics about the hurdles that await – and how to overcome them.

Language might sound an unexpected challenge – after all, most EU scientists already communicate perfectly well with each other on Horizon projects in English, the academic lingua franca, despite it being their second language.

However, South Korean proficiency in English ranks below every European country, according to a (self-selected) global survey released last year. This stands in particular contrast to Canada and New Zealand, the other distant countries joining Horizon Europe for the first time.

Korean senior researchers in particular struggle with English, said Tae-Hyun Yoon, a professor at Hanyang University in Seoul, and veteran of several nanotechnology projects under Horizon Europe and its predecessor, Horizon 2020.

“For the older generation, there is a serious language barrier,” he added. “English speaking people are relatively rare in the older generation.”

Younger South Korean academics have had more exposure to English – albeit to the American and British accents heard on Netflix, rather than EU ones, he says.

They will have to get used to English from non-native Europe speakers, or what Yoon calls “Horizon English”.

“It’s different from American English or British English in terms of nuance,” he said.

Lack of networks

Language may be one of the reasons why South Korea lacks as firm a toehold in EU research and innovation framework programmes as fellow joiner, Canada. Currently, South Koreans and Canadians can and do join EU projects, but have to scrimp together their own funding.

South Korea managed 159 participations – the number of times its academics or innovators joined EU projects – during Horizon Europe and Horizon 2020.

By contrast, Canada, which has a smaller population than South Korea, managed around four times as many.

According to Yale Song, a policy officer at the Brussels-based Korea-EU Research Centre (KERC), Korean researchers’ “limited network” of contacts in Europe is one of the top hurdles to overcome.

Daesub Yoon, a human computer interaction researcher at Chungnam National University, wants there to be a dedicated conference where European and South Korean researchers can meet each other and build up consortia.

“Unfortunately, in the case of Horizon Europe, there is no such kind of cooperation platform,” said Yoon, who is part of a current project working on AI-powered robotics in manufacturing. 

Culture clash

Another more nebulous, but no less important hurdle is working culture. Drawing on his experiences in EU projects, Hanyang’s Yoon warns that in multinational teams, Korean scientists will often hold back from speaking unless they are absolutely confident of what they are saying.

“Even though they know what is going on, and they are experts in their field, they rarely speak out, until they are asked,” he said.

This contrasts to a more freewheeling, brainstorming-heavy discussion culture in Europe and North America. “You guys are quite talkative,” he said.

South Korean researchers also need to prepare themselves for the fact that in August, European partners may be all but uncontactable as they disappear to the beach, says Chungnam’s Yoon. “Some researchers may spend five weeks on vacation,” he says. “But in Korea, five days is not common as a vacation.”

Administrative hurdles

Association, in theory, should make it easier for Koreans to join Horizon consortia, as they won’t have to find separate funding domestically. “The process is going to be simple,” said Chungnam’s Yoon.

But Hanyang’s Yoon is worried that association will actually bring a bigger headache for Korean researchers, because with EU money, comes EU levels of scrutiny and reporting paperwork.

“The system looks quite complicated and we are not familiar with this,” he said. “So I think there will be some hurdles at the beginning.”

EU officials acknowledge that collaboration will only increase gradually as researchers figure out the system. Yet Yoon is sceptical that at least for senior Korean researchers, the amounts of money on offer from Horizon Europe will be worth the hassle of navigating a whole new system of grants.

“But in the long term, I think it will be a good opportunity for the younger generation of researchers both in Korea and Europe,” he said.

KERC’s Song also sees “lack of information” and “lack of administrative support” as among the biggest challenges to a smooth association.

South Korea lacks the ecosystem of consulting companies that exist in the EU to guide academics through a Horizon Europe application, Chungnam’s Yoon pointed out.

Another complication is the risk of currency fluctuations, said Dirk Henkensmeier, a polymer researcher at Korea’s University of Science and Technology, who was part of a Horizon 2020 funded electrolysis project that ended last year. 

Typically, Korean research organisations can only spend money they have already received, but EU funding often only arrives after work is completed.

“Since costs occur in Korean Won and compensation will be in euros, fluctuations in currency can be a big problem for researchers,” he said. He wants the Korean government to act as a “financial buffer” by pre-financing activity in Korea.

Information tour

Both Seoul and Brussels are now trying to grease the wheels of collaboration, so that association won’t be a flop when it starts in earnest next year. In February, Chungnam’s Yoon spoke about his experiences in Horizon 2020 at a big joint event in Seoul, and more events should follow.

Korea’s science ministry and National Research Foundation are planning a Horizon Europe information tour for universities and research institutes, said KERC’s Song.  

KERC itself is also preparing match-matching activities, guidebooks and videos to prepare the ground for association, he added.

The European Commission is also preparing a series of dedicated seminars to explain association in Korea. One is planned for 16 May targeting universities, and one on 14 June for small and medium sized enterprises, held at the NextRise startup fair in Seoul. This is in addition to regular Info Day sessions open to all countries, a Commission official said.