NTIS (National Science and Technology Information Service)

NTIS is Korea's record of what has already been funded. IRIS is the front door (open calls, submission, agreements) and NTIS is the archive: projects funded, by which ministry, through which institution, to whom, for how much, with what results.

Checking it before writing is the Korean version of reading an awarded-project database, and it answers the questions announcements never do. Has this programme funded work like ours three times already? Which institutions win here? What does a typical award actually cost, as opposed to what the ceiling says?

It exists because Korean national R&D is spread across many ministries, each historically funding independently. A central record was the only way to see duplication, and the same record is now the best available map of national research priorities for anyone trying to position a proposal.

The coverage is genuinely national rather than per-agency, which makes it more complete than most equivalents elsewhere. Data goes back many years and includes outcomes, not only awards.

Bemzu ingests calls from IRIS and does not mirror NTIS. The two do different jobs: one tells you what you can apply to now, the other tells you whether applying is sensible. Use the second before committing to the first.