• Journal of Korea Technology Innovation Society
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.323-345
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• 2013

In this paper, problems with the Korean system regulating the use of university royalties are identified and investigated in order to suggest measures to improve the system in a way that provides a better R&D environment at universities. The Delphi technique was used to gather data from royalty specialists at universities and government ministries. The first Delphi survey conducted used open questions to identify problems in the use of university royalties. Then, closed questions were used for the second Delphi survey. The number of responses and the frequency of answers were analyzed after the first survey, and validity, stability, and reliability analyses were conducted for the second survey. The measures suggested to improve the system regulating the use of university royalties are as follows: First, bonuses for researchers, which are currently 50% or more of collected royalties, need to be decreased, as they are rather high compared to similar bonuses in developed countries, which are around 30% of collected royalties. The guideline for limiting the bonuses, which is explained as XX% or less of collected royalties, is suggested to prevent the excessive use of royalties. Second, rewards for those who contribute to technology transfer and commercialization should be increased. It is also important to build a consensus around the need to reward those who contribute to technology transfer and commercialization. Third, the scale of re-investment into R&D needs to increase. Regulations on royalties should be meaningfully applied to create a positive feedback structure for R&D, which can be described as the process of research, R&D outcomes, technology transfer, collecting royalties, rewarding researchers, and re-investing in R&D. To build a university's R&D capability, re-investment into R&D needs to be regularized as XX% or more of royalties. Fourth, regulations on the royalties of ministries and universities need to be unified. Each category for using royalties needs to be regularized, with detailed matters such as the guideline, process and method for using royalties specified. Also, universities need to make their own specific regulations. Fifth, specific priorities on the use of royalties need to be suggested. Regulation is necessary for the categories that do not have guideline and priorities for the use of royalties. It is hoped that the findings of this research will contribute to reinforcing the R&D capability of universities.