Signal Korea combines leading robot density with very high R&D intensity

Summary

The KDI report brings together two quantitative strengths. Korea has 1,012 industrial robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers, the highest density in the world and more than six times the global average of 162. It also spent 4.96% of GDP on R&D in 2023, second only to Israel. Korea ranks near the top of the OECD in researchers per capita and in higher education attainment, and has led the world in patent filings relative to GDP. The report nonetheless stresses that the commercialisation success rate of R&D is only about 20%, far below the UK and US, so strong inputs are not yet translating into comparable outputs.