This study examined the characteristics of research activities in the road sector via an analysis of patents and papers. For the text mining analysis, this study used keywords that contained the term “highway” and extracted data; 25,306 patents and 11,940 papers were used for the analysis. Along with a paper analysis, there is a 3P (paper, patent and patent) analysis method used to examine papers and patents. The 3P analysis method analyzes patent trends (time series, country, applicant, institution, and so on), original technology patents, the latest technology trends in the field of interest, and research trends by examining and evaluating key patent rights and their technology and utilization values. More specifically, analyzing patents owned by companies and papers published based on data obtained from text mining, allows researchers to compare intellectual property competitiveness by institution and identify a competitor’s research trends. Based on the results, commercialized tech areas and global research activity trends can be identified to establish a technology strategy. In this regard, this study used keywords only related to “highway” and acquired the following analysis results: To begin with, some of the most noteworthy research and development areas in the road and transport sector recently included “traction hybrid battery,” “information navigation date,” and “navigation determination.” This suggests great implications. Thus far, the road and transport section has traditionally researched “Construction of Roads, Railways, or Bridges” in Section E (Fixed Constructions) of the International Patent Classification and supporting works such as the installation of supports for the road or the construction of platforms, snow fences or similar arrangements. This study, however, found that lately, a lot of research is being conducted on systems such as transport control systems, transport safety, transport control radars or similar systems, sonar or Light Detection and ranging system, and anti-collision systems. In addition, as smart toll collection increasingly becomes available, a lot of research in the field of physics is being undertaken on transmission methods for measures, control signals or similar signs, and ticket dispensers or devices to collect tolls and admission fees. In conclusion, based on the above findings, this study was able to identify that more research in the road and transport sector is being conducted on smart toll collection and tech convergence such as physics and systems than traditional civil engineering as today’s world is heading towards the 4th Industrial Revolution.

One of the most important national tasks of the current administration is to realize social value and boost the economy. In the road sector, it is particularly important to ensure the road sectors public good and create jobs based on the Framework Act on the Realization of Public Institutions’ Social Value (Proposal). In regard to job creation in the road sector, however, there has so far been a lack of career management for construction engineers. In this regard, this study used Monte Carlo simulation and analyzed how to estimate the amount of manpower required to efficiently manage engineering human resources in the road sector. Monte Carlo simulation uses random numbers for prediction and estimation, extracts values repeatedly from a probability distribution predefined by the user, and performs tasks on various scenarios. This study made the following assumptions for the analysis: (a) researchers’ abilities were identical; (b) the research project was analyzed on a 1 year basis while technical advice was analyzed on a 9-week basis to reflect the characteristics of the road sector; (c) technical advice had the same probability from Week 1 to Week 52; (d) the amount of manpower required for a project carried over to the next year was input at the beginning of the year; and (e) the largest amount of manpower required at any particular time in a year was calculated and estimated as required manpower. The input variables were an estimated number of project and technical advice in each research field while the output variables were the amount of manpower and technical advice required for each research project. Simulation was performed 10,000 times. An analysis found that required number of manpower for case analysis was 75 as opposed to the current number of 66, assuming that 57 research projects were undertaken and technical advice was provided 223 times. Every sector is making efforts to create social value through various means. The field of construction social overhead capital is no exception. It has undertaken a very important task to ensure the role of roads in public good and create jobs. However, there is still a lack of objective approach to estimate the required amount of manpower. Thus, as done in this study, calculating required manpower through the simulation method would be useful as an objective evidence for job creation.

The government focuses the innovation paradigm of public institutions on the realization of social value through national tasks. Efforts are now being made to legislate the Framework Act on the Realization of Public Institutions’ Social Value, which allows public institutions to serve as the foundation and check the progress of social value realization plans every year. According to this Act, the government performance review must also reflect efforts and outcomes made to create social value. Traditional public institutions in the road sector are trying to convert social responsibility, job creation and related activities into indicators of social value realization. Social value refers to a “value that can contribute to public interests and community development in all areas including social, economic, environmental, and cultural ones.” This definition commonly used in government policy includes the concept of public institutions’ social responsibility and shared value creation. Here, social responsibility refers to the returning of corporate profits to society for the continued development of a community while shared value creation refers to the solving of a social problem by a company pursuing both economic and social value creation. The performance sharing scheme in particular is regarded as an important tool for companies to create social value. In this regard, this study examines how public institutions in the road sector used the performance sharing scheme. The purpose of this study is also to discover more cases based on this analysis. The analysis so far found the following 5 types of performance sharing schemes in the road sector: (a) service improvement, (b) technology development, (c) conditional purchasing, (d) technology transfer, and (e) performance sharing between multiple parties. Notably, technology transfer or performance sharing between multiple parties means that public institutions provide support to the private sector so that it can take the lead and develop required technology. These instances can be good examples of public institutions serving as the foundation and creating social value by removing new technology entry barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises and supporting the development of the latest prioritized technology or product. Accordingly, there needs to be established a cooperative ecosystem between small, medium, and large companies in a win-win approach to increase the adoption rate of SME support projects and provide more technical advice in the road sector and thereby, to expand the cases of shared growth where outcomes are shared in the road sector.