Of 272 Korean projects in judged years (2014 to 2026), 43 won grand awards, 15.8%; the world rate is 25.3% (p<0.001). In 2021 to 2026 alone, 18.1% against 27.1%. Thirteen years produced one First Award (2019, ocean-wave power), seven Second Awards, one Best of Category and no Top Award. The pattern is specific: 68.4% of Korean entries are teams (world 21.1%), Korean solo projects won at 19.8% and Korean teams at 14.0%, and the most common Korean category, Systems Software, produced one grand award in 24 entries in 2021 to 2026. In materials, embedded systems, earth and environmental science and biomedical engineering, Korean entries are at or above the world rate.
How Korean students qualify (sourced)
Korea has more than one road to ISEF. For ISEF 2026 the Ministry of Science and ICT supported 13 teams and 24 students through two programs: the science-gifted creative research program for science and gifted high schools (7 teams, 15 students) and the Korea Code Fair run by the National Information Society Agency, whose software-competition winners pass a Korean representative selection round in December (6 teams, 9 students). The Code Fair route feeds Embedded Systems, Systems Software and Technology Enhances the Arts.
The abstract database lists 29 Korean projects and 57 students for 2026, so the remainder came through other routes, chiefly the KSEF national division run by Korea Science Service. Its 2027 notice sets registration from 2026-11-23 to 12-22, finals on 2027-01-09 and 10 in Daejeon, and results on 01-22, for grades 5 to 12, solo or teams of up to three, at 330,000 won per project; the national division doubles as the selection of Korean representatives for 2027 international fairs, with ISEF placement for grades 9 to 12 decided on award level, project character and fair type, not by award alone. The international division is explicitly not a selection route. Which Korean fairs are Society-affiliated in a given year is set by the Society for Science directory and can change. The notices themselves are summarised on the KSEF preparation guide.
Entries and results by year
From 17 or 18 projects a year in 2014 to 2017 to 23 to 30 since 2021. The computing share of Korean entries rose from 13% in 2021 to 41 to 44% in 2025 and 2026, and AI mentions from 10% to 24 to 44%. 2020 was held without judging. 2025 awards come from isef.net, which does not separate First and Second Awards.
2020 ran without judging and is excluded from award rates.
The 6 without a tier are 2021, 2024 and 2025 projects whose award appears only on isef.net. The one First Award also took Best of Category.
| Year | Projects | Students | Team share | Computing share | AI mention | Grand | Special | First/Second |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 18 | 38 | 66.7% | 22.2% | 0.0% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | 18 | 38 | 55.6% | 22.2% | 0.0% | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2016 | 18 | 36 | 55.6% | 27.8% | 5.6% | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 17 | 39 | 76.5% | 41.2% | 23.5% | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 20 | 42 | 70.0% | 25.0% | 10.0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 21 | 48 | 81.0% | 28.6% | 9.5% | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 2020 | 22 | 37 | 45.5% | 31.8% | 13.6% | - | - | 0 |
| 2021 | 30 | 64 | 66.7% | 13.3% | 10.0% | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| 2022 | 28 | 63 | 67.9% | 35.7% | 14.3% | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 2023 | 23 | 42 | 60.9% | 34.8% | 21.7% | 7 | 2 | 2 |
| 2024 | 25 | 57 | 80.0% | 36.0% | 28.0% | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 25 | 52 | 76.0% | 44.0% | 44.0% | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| 2026 | 29 | 57 | 62.1% | 41.4% | 24.1% | 7 | 8 | 1 |
What Korea enters versus what the world enters
Systems Software is 15.0% of Korean entries and 3.3% of the world's: Korea over-indexes 4.5 times and has one grand award in 24 there. Materials Science (4 of 11), Embedded Systems (3 of 12), Earth and Environmental Sciences (2 of 6), Biomedical Engineering (2 of 6), Microbiology (2 of 6) and Animal Sciences (2 of 5) are at or above the 27% world rate. Over 2014 to 2026, Korean Computing and Robotics entries won at 10.6% (85 projects) and Korean Biology and Medicine entries at 21.3% (47).
| Category | Korean entries | Korean share | World share | Korean grand (95% CI) | World grand (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systems Software | 24 | 15.0% | 3.3% | 4.2% (95% CI 1 to 20) | 27.3% (95% CI 22 to 33) |
| Physics and Astronomy | 15 | 9.4% | 5.4% | 13.3% (95% CI 4 to 38) | 27.5% (95% CI 24 to 32) |
| Environmental Engineering | 13 | 8.1% | 6.3% | 7.7% (95% CI 1 to 33) | 26.9% (95% CI 23 to 31) |
| Embedded Systems | 12 | 7.5% | 3.1% | 25.0% (95% CI 9 to 53) | 27.4% (95% CI 22 to 33) |
| Materials Science | 11 | 6.9% | 4.4% | 36.4% (95% CI 15 to 65) | 27.3% (95% CI 23 to 32) |
| Chemistry | 10 | 6.2% | 4.8% | 10.0% (95% CI 2 to 40) | 27.7% (95% CI 24 to 32) |
| Robotics and Intelligent Machines | 10 | 6.2% | 5.6% | 20.0% (95% CI 6 to 51) | 27.5% (95% CI 24 to 32) |
| Mathematics | 9 | 5.6% | 3.0% | 22.2% (95% CI 6 to 55) | 26.4% (95% CI 21 to 32) |
| Earth and Environmental Sciences | 6 | 3.8% | 6.5% | 33.3% (95% CI 10 to 70) | 27.1% (95% CI 24 to 31) |
| Biomedical Engineering | 6 | 3.8% | 6.5% | 33.3% (95% CI 10 to 70) | 27.1% (95% CI 24 to 31) |
| Microbiology | 6 | 3.8% | 4.0% | 33.3% (95% CI 10 to 70) | 26.4% (95% CI 22 to 31) |
| Animal Sciences | 5 | 3.1% | 4.3% | 40.0% (95% CI 12 to 77) | 26.7% (95% CI 22 to 32) |
What Korean winners had that Korean non-winners did not
Comparing the 43 Korean grand-award projects with the 229 that did not win: three or more quantified results 25.6% vs 10.5%, a cost claim 27.9% vs 10.5%, a novelty claim 18.6% vs 7.9%, a named metric 30.2% vs 18.8%, wet-lab work 20.9% vs 12.7%, solo 39.5% vs 30.1%. No difference or the reverse: hardware (26% vs 23%), AI use (12% vs 18%), app or software (33% vs 42%). Korean winners look like winners everywhere; Korean non-winners look like non-winners everywhere, with more software.
Korea's First and Second Awards over 13 years: 2015 jellyfish-derived chondroitin (Earth and Environmental), 2019 SHOWPAM ocean-wave power (Energy: Physical, First Award and Best of Category), 2019 endophyte lettuce (Plant Sciences), 2022 diet-induced epigenetics in mealworms (Animal Sciences), 2023 Alzheimer's spatial-awareness test (Behavioral and Social), 2023 papain hydrogel glucose film (Translational Medical), 2024 Rebeat CPR feedback device (Embedded Systems), 2026 KO2-based oxygen generator (Materials Science). The full list of Korean entries is in the CSV download.
| Trait | Winners | Non-winners |
|---|---|---|
| Hardware or device | 25.6% | 23.1% |
| Wet-lab work | 20.9% | 12.7% |
| AI or machine learning | 11.6% | 17.9% |
| App or software | 32.6% | 42.4% |
| Comparison with existing method | 7.0% | 5.7% |
| Named metric | 30.2% | 18.8% |
| Cost claim | 27.9% | 10.5% |
| Novelty claim | 18.6% | 7.9% |
| Three or more quantified results | 25.6% | 10.5% |
| Solo project | 39.5% | 30.1% |
Asian neighbours
Grand-award rates 2014 to 2026: Singapore 61.1% (72 projects), Canada 54.1%, Germany 49.0%, Taiwan 42.7%, Australia 38.3%, Saudi Arabia 35.4%, Thailand 34.8%, India 32.7%, Hong Kong 28.6%, China 27.2%, Japan 22.5%, Korea 15.8%, Russia 14.4%. Singapore and Canada win with robotics and with materials and biomedical engineering, that is, computing attached to a physical artefact; Thailand enters 87% teams and wins in animal and medical science. No top delegation leads with pure software. The full table is on the country page.
Rates use judged years only (2020 excluded); thin lines are 95% confidence intervals. Taiwan combines the fairs registered as Chinese Taipei and Taiwan.
Frequently asked questions
Data and method
Two public sources. From the Society for Science abstract database (abstracts.societyforscience.org) we compiled every ISEF finalist project from 2014 to 2026: 17,565 projects with title, category, fair country, awards and full abstract. From the isef.net project library we took the award-tier flags for the 8,134 ISEF projects of 2021 to 2026 and joined them to the abstracts by year and booth id. Compiled on 2026-10-11.
A grand award means a First to Fourth Award or Best of Category, roughly the top 27% of each category. A special award is given by a sponsoring organization with its own judges. ISEF 2020 was held without judging and is excluded from every rate. The abstract database carries no 2025 awards and misses most Materials Science grand awards after 2017, so award flags for 2021 to 2026 combine both sources. An AI mention means the title or abstract contains a machine-learning term; it does not mean the project is about AI. All numbers are correlations, and Korean per-category figures rest on 2 to 24 projects, so read them as direction rather than precision.
Sources
- https://abstracts.societyforscience.org/
- https://isef.net/search-results/projects
- https://v.daum.net/v/20260518145510531
- https://www.heraldk.com/article/2026051818341164099
- https://newsseoul.co.kr/news/view/1065606604515645
- http://www.ksef.or.kr/pc/notice/notice01.php
- https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/grand-award/criteria/
- https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/awards/
- https://citcoding.com/ksef-how-to-start.html
The figures on this page are category-level base rates compiled from public ISEF results. They do not predict or promise any student's award, selection or admission. CIT does not guarantee awards, selection or admission.
ISEF data series
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