A Study on the Efficiency of R&D Investment in Smart City

This research primarily evaluates the efficiency of investments in the smart city sector within South Korea's national Research and Development (R&D) projects.It thoroughly analyzes the performance of these national R&D projects by employing input variables such as the government research budget, the research period, the number of participating personnel, and output variables, including the number of SCI (E) publications, patents, and commercialization achievements.The study reveals that R&D in the smart city sector exhibits higher performance than the general R&D landscape; however, it also identifies significant differences in performance based on the type of technology used and the implementation system.Moreover, the efficiency assessment using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) indicates that the efficiency of smart city R&D is relatively lower in comparison to the overall R&D.To improve the efficiency of R&D outcomes in the smart city sector, there is a need to optimize the process of producing results in areas such as ICT & Software, Construction & Transportation, and Energy & Resources, rather than just focusing on government budget, number of participating personnel, and period.An expansion in the input scale seems necessary in sectors like Machinery & Manufacturing, Environment & Meteorology, and Disaster Safety.For different executing bodies, efficiency improvements in outcome production are particularly needed in the private sector, including large corporations and mid-sized enterprises.These findings are critical in formulating future investment strategies and efficient support mechanisms for R&D in the smart city domain.The study is limited by its reliance on data from a specific time point and highlights the need for future research to incorporate a deeper understanding of qualitative performance aspects.