A report released by the Ministry of Science and Technology on Friday shows Korea ranked fifth in the world in the field of nanotechnology last year in terms of the number of papers (1,128) listed in the Science Citation Index (SCI), a global indicator of the level of scientific study in a country. In biotechnology, the country ranked 13th with 3,212 papers published.

By manipulating materials on a microscopic scale, nanotechnology is poised to bring revolutionary changes to all scientific and technology fields including semiconductors, medicine and energy. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter.

Korea has published a total of 3,542 nanotechnology papers since 1997, accounting for 4.5 percent of the world’s entire output in the field and ranking sixth. The country ranked seventh in terms of nanotech patents registered in the U.S since 1991.

The data show that the sector is developing faster than biotech even though far less money is funneled into it. In terms of the number of papers published in leading journals, the nanotech sector jumped from the eighth spot in 2000 to fifth last year, while the biotechnology field rose from 15th in 2000 to 13th.

Yet nanotechnology research secured only W304.1 billion (about US$304.1 million) or 9.2 percent of the government’s overall funding for research, while biotechnology got W771.7 billion or 23.4 percent.

Prof. Hyun Taek-hwan of Seoul National University says it is difficult to directly compare the two sectors since nanotechnology is a more recent field. The U.S. leads the world in biotech but Korea competes with the U.S. and Japan in nanotechnology.

(englishnews@chosun.com )