Until June, 2008, Dr. Sungchul Chung served as the President of the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) of Korea, a government policy think tank devoted to research and analysis on the issues pertaining to science, technology, and innovation.  He is currently a Senior Research Fellow Emeritus at STEPI. Dr. Chung has been involved in science, technology and innovation policy research as well as advisory activities for more than 20 years, and has been involved in S&T policy formulation as a major player in Korea. He served on various high-level advisory bodies, including the Presidential Committee on Policy and Planning (2006-2008), the Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology (2006-2008), the Science and Technology Committee of the Federation of Korean Industries (2006-2009).

He has also been active in international S&T cooperation.  He was a member of the Expert-Advisory Group on New Innovation Strategy, OECD, was a member of the Bureau of the Committee for Science and Technology Policy of the OECD (1997-2004), Coordinator, S&T Sub-Committee of the Korea Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (1992-99), and represented Korea and the Korean government at various international S&T meetings. He is an economist by training and received his Ph.D from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA.