Incheon National University is moving to build a campus-wide research security framework that protects national core technologies and cutting-edge research outcomes while preserving the openness required for international collaboration.
The university announced Tuesday that it has been selected for the "2026 Research Security Capacity-Building Support Project," a program run by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea, securing 1.25 billion won ($883,000) in government funding.
The project runs from July through December 2028 — a period of two and a half years. Using the secured funding, the university plans to establish a dedicated research security unit and build out related systems in stages, including institutional regulations, education programs, information management systems and security infrastructure.
Building a proactive 'trust-based research security' framework
The core aim is not a regulation-heavy management approach that overly restricts research activity, but rather a "trust-based research security" framework that protects research outcomes and core technologies while preserving researchers' autonomy and international cooperation.
To that end, the university will develop an integrated research security management system called INSURE.
The system is designed to help researchers identify potential security risks early in the research process and receive the reviews and expert advice they need when engaging in international joint research or contract negotiations.
The plan applies research security principles across the entire research lifecycle — from initial planning through international collaboration and contracting to the utilization of research outcomes.
The university will also classify risk levels by research project and establish pre-screening procedures for projects involving international joint research or foreign research personnel.
Standard contract templates, checklists, risk assessment criteria, manuals and FAQs will be provided so researchers are not burdened with navigating complex administrative procedures on their own.
The university's push to build a research security framework reflects the growing scale of its research capabilities and international partnerships.
According to the university, as of 2025, 63.1 percent of its publications appeared in Q1 journals, and 29.9 percent ranked in the top 10 percent of the Journal Citation Reports.
The share of internationally co-authored papers over the past five years has reached 36.1 percent, underscoring the expanding foundation for global research collaboration.
The university's location in Songdo International City is also cited as a factor driving the growth of international partnerships.
University-level support and sustainable investment
The university said that as it broadens its collaboration with international organizations, overseas universities, research institutions and companies, the need for systematic protection of research outcomes, technologies, data and research personnel has grown accordingly.
The urgency is particularly acute given the university's focus on national strategic technology fields — including AI, biotech, robotics and marine science — as well as research areas tied to Incheon's ABC+E strategy.
Through the project, the university will focus on five areas: establishing a dedicated research security unit, revising related regulations and work procedures, providing researcher-tailored education and counseling, offering legal and administrative expert support, and building an integrated management system and security infrastructure.
Even after the project concludes, the university plans to maintain the relevant organization and personnel and commit its own funding to sustain ongoing functions including counseling, education, pre-screening, risk management and research outcome protection.
"To grow into a research-centered university, we need not only openness in research and international cooperation, but also the capacity to responsibly protect research outcomes and core technologies," said Lee In-jae, president of Incheon National University. "We will actively provide organizational, human, fiscal, spatial and information infrastructure support at the university level."
Lee added that the university would create an environment where researchers can focus on their work and international collaboration — not shoulder complex regulations themselves — by building a professional support system. "We will make Incheon National University's research security model a standard that universities and research institutions across the country can adopt," he said.
Lee Jun-han, vice president for planning and the project's principal investigator, said the university would build a management framework spanning the entire research process — from planning and international collaboration and contracting through to the utilization of outcomes. "We will implement an effective research security system that simultaneously achieves researcher protection, the dissemination of research outcomes and the protection of national core technologies," he said.
With this project as a starting point, the university plans to adopt the principle of "open as much as possible, protected as much as necessary" as the guiding direction for its research security efforts, and to establish a leading model in which researchers' creative activity and the protection of national core research assets are brought into balance.
gilbert@heraldcorp.com
