Government Launches 'K-Moonshot', Supports Failed Research

The Government’s “K-Moonshot” program expands support for high-risk research, including projects that fail to meet their original goals, if the process and outcomes are still valuable. Announced in a presidential briefing on the 16th at Cheong Wa Dae, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea AeroSpace Administration said full-scale operations will begin in the second half of 2026. This month, they will revise the enforcement decree of the National R&D Innovation Act to introduce “failure assetization,” allowing follow-up funding for “Limit Challenge R&D” projects with high impact but low success probability. A separate initiative for failed researchers to retry next year is also planned. K-Moonshot targets 12 national scientific challenges by 2035 through AI across all research stages. Key tracks include a 50-qubit quantum computer by year-end, a 100-qubit error-corrected system targeted for 2029, and drug, fusion, and SMR programs with phase goals to be announced in August.