Korean media: There is a big gap with China and the United States. South Korea's quantum technology research and development ranks 16th in the world!

On June 12, the Korean media Pioneer Economy published an article saying, "Is China and the United States an insurmountable wall?"

The scale of quantum technology research in South Korea ranks 16th in the world, and there is a big gap between South Korea and the world's leading countries. There are deficiencies in both quantity and quality. When cooperation is focused on leading countries in the field of quantum technology, targeted and effective support strategies are needed to strengthen the global cooperation network so that South Korea can focus on competitive fields and achieve research results.

Recently, the Korean Academy of Science and Technology Information (KISTI) released an analysis report on the field of quantum technology that is expected to bring innovation in many fields, such as cryptography, security, communications, computers, and so on.

This report contains the results of the analysis of the global competition trend and the current situation of South Korea in the field of quantum technology using the academic paper database Web of Science. The 50739 papers published in the field of quantum technology from 2010 to 2022 were reviewed in terms of the scale and growth potential of various fields, research level of various countries, cooperation relationship, research leadership and other aspects, and the trends of major research institutions were analyzed and comprehensively introduced.

KISTI research team said that in terms of research scale, China had surpassed the United States in 2010, but compared with the expansion of quantity, the growth of quality was not enough.

China has more papers in four quantum technology fields (quantum communication and cryptography, quantum information technology, quantum measurement and sensing, and quantum computing) than the United States, and China ranks first in all fields. Research shows that China has published more papers in the field of quantum communication and cryptography than any other country. In addition, the number of papers published in the field of quantum information technology in 2012 and in the field of quantum measurement and sensing in 2016 exceeded that of the United States. In the field of quantum computing, the number of papers published in 2022 surpassed that of the United States by a narrow margin, indicating that China is vigorously catching up with the United States.

The report shows that in the whole field of quantum technology, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom are in an advantageous position in terms of quantity and quality. Among them, the performance of the United States in all fields is far higher than the standard value, leading the research in the field of quantum technology. In addition, the UK, Germany, Canada, France and Australia are also leading the field of quantum technology.

KISTI researchers found in international cooperation papers of major countries that all countries are increasing their cooperation with the United States, China and Germany, and cooperation is focusing on leading countries in the field of quantum technology.

Dr. An Shizheng of KISTI Global R&D Analysis Center said: "Up to now, South Korea's quantum technology R&D investment and professionals are very insufficient compared with the quantum technology leading countries that have invested a long time. In order to strengthen the cooperation network with the global leading countries as the center and achieve research results with competitive fields as the center, a centralized and efficient support strategy is needed."