Invest KOREA

The government will endeavor to put the private investment in charge of key industries including semiconductor, display, automobiles, communications, broadcasting, and network. The government, instead, plans to invest more heavily on securing original technologies on which the private sector had limits in actively attracting investment.

Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIC) put forward and confirmed a "mid-long term investment strategy for government's R&D expenditure" at the 4th Presidential Advisory Council on Science and Technology's Deliberation Committee held on February 14.

Its plan includes the expansion of the foundation for future, new industries encompassing robot, content, big data, and AI along with active institutional improvement efforts. For the areas where private investment is already strong, support will be provided to expand the industrial foundation, while reinforcing a package-type investment which connects R&D and institutional improvement.

In the public and infrastructure area including aerospace, nuclear power, and infrastructure, the government plans to encourage the private sector take the lead gradually. Regarding the aerospace, nuclear power, and other large-scale research area, the government will make tailored investment in accordance with public demand planning, and pursue core technology self-reliance. When it comes to infrastructure, the government plans to encourage the private sector's more active investment.

With regard to the sectors concerning the quality of life such as the bio and medical industries, the government plans to take charge of investment. But for the public service area in need of sophistication, the government plans to make investment that is conducive to creating the ecosystem of private-public cooperation. In particular, the areas greatly affecting people's lives such as fine dust and marine pollution, investment will be concentrated on problem resolution.

Lim Dae-sik, Vice Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, said "the government investment has driven Korea's economic growth so far, but we need to make strategic investment through cooperation and role distribution between the private sector and government going forward," emphasizing that "science and technology, having been focused on economic development, will expand its role to improving quality of life as it touches on every part of people's daily lives".

Meanwhile, the government's R&D mid-long term investment strategy plan spans five years, from 2019 to 2023, applicable to Government's R&D projects in science and technology field covering basic research, information and communications, machinery and materials, energy, Bio, and environment.

Source Text

Source: Newsis (February 14, 2019)

** This article was translated from Korean.