[Background]
1. Food tech is anticipated to exhibit high growth not only domestically but also globally, and is expected to become a new growth engine for the Korean agricultural and food industry.
Global Market Size (Billion USD): ('17) 2,110 $\to$ ('20) 5,542 (Annual Average 38% $\uparrow$ / Overall Food 0.5%) (Research on Fostering Future Promising Food Industry, GS&S Institute, 2022)
Domestic Market Size (Trillion KRW): ('17) 27 $\to$ ('20) 61 (Annual Average 31% $\uparrow$ / Overall Food 4.8%) (Research on Fostering Future Promising Food Industry, GS&S Institute, 2022)
2. There is a need for strategic promotion of food tech to leverage it as an opportunity for expanding youth start-ups and activating domestic companies' overseas expansion.
3. While countries like the U.S. and the E.U. are actively investing in food tech at the government level, government support related to food tech in Korea is currently minimal.
4. The food tech industry requires complex technological capabilities demanded by academia and the industry (e.g., bio-processing, ICT, AI/data, response to food safety regulations). Areas such as cell-cultured food, alternative proteins, 3D printed food, smart manufacturing/distribution, and food data analysis are difficult to staff solely through traditional food engineering/agricultural and food industry workforce training programs.
5. While the number of food tech companies is rapidly increasing, a supply-demand imbalance is occurring between the personnel needed in the field and the supply of personnel, due to a lack of up-to-date technical competence and a disconnect between training curricula and the industry. This necessitates convergence talent equipped with both technological innovation skills and specialized knowledge for industrialization and commercialization.
6. Systemic policy implementation, including expansion of production infrastructure, market creation, R&D, and workforce development, is necessary to foster the high-growth, high value-added food tech industry and secure a foothold in the global market. To provide the legal basis for this, the Act on the Promotion of the Food Tech Industry (hereinafter referred to as the "Food Tech Industry Act") was enacted ('24.12.20.).
7. Article 8 of the Food Tech Industry Act stipulates that universities and institutions can be designated as specialized workforce training institutions for food tech, and delegates the documents required for designation application to the Ordinance of the Ministry.
[Main Points]
Documents Required for Application to be Designated as a Specialized Workforce Training Institution for the Food Tech Industry
