South Korea plans to invest 912.8 billion won (US$801.9 million) this year to promote growth of the information technology (IT) sector as part of its efforts to boost the industry's competitiveness, the government said Thursday.

   The sum represents a 7.8 percent gain from 846.4 billion won set aside by the government last year, with money to be used in four key areas -- new technologies, industrial standardization, personnel training and infrastructure building, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.

   "Increasing support reflects the need to assist software and system semiconductor areas that are vital for the country to cope with the rapid pace of global IT convergence," the ministry said.

   According to the plan, support for software and system semiconductors will jump to 175.5 billion won this year from 97.3 billion won in 2010.

   Money will also be poured into research and development (R&D) projects to acquire fourth generation telecommunication technologies, three-dimensional TVs and so-called petaflops super-computing systems.

   Other areas to receive support include training IT experts and IT convergence specialists, and the creation of a solid support foundation to help companies lead the global standardization effort in the cutting edge field.

   Seoul will also spend 200.2 billion won this year to create a favorable domestic environment for IT industry growth.

   The latest plan is a follow-up on the country's measures to strengthen the industry that has played an important role in exports and economic growth.

   From 2008 to 2010, the ministry spent 2.65 trillion won in the IT sector, helping local engineers unveil the world's first Long Term Evolution-Advanced mobile telecommunications system in January, among other things.

Source: Yonhap News (March 17, 2011)