South Korea strengthens international cooperation in research for future technologies

The South Korean government would like to strengthen international cooperation in research on groundbreaking, future technologies. The three designated fields of research are self-driving vehicles, semiconductor materials and machines, and a next-generation mobile communication network called 6G. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy recently invited leading research and development institutions from both in Korea and abroad to participate in various projects. On behalf of the ministry, the Korea Institute for Advcancement of Technology (KIAT) accepted the applications at the end of September.

The ministry plans to five-fold increase international projects in the research field by 2023. Currently, international projects account for less than three percent of all government-supported projects. Therefore, the ministry will select 4 teams each for eight concrete research projects. Research will be conducted on new LEDs for displays, exposure for semiconductor production, sensors for self-driving vehicles, robot-human integration and 6G networks. The eight areas were determined after evaluating a survey of Korean industry to determine which technologies they believe will be most important in the future. The winning teams will receive prize money equivalent to $844,000 per year for three years. The Ministry will announce the winners in October 2020.

This is the first time that South Korea has called for such a competition independently of foreign governments or researchers. In the past, there have been difficulties in technology transfer when foreign government research institutions were involved, said a KIAT spokesperson. With the new approach, i.e. research areas defined by Korean industry and selected research teams, the ministry hopes to achieve concrete results for the domestic economy.

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Julian Busch

About the author: Julian Busch is the founder and managing director of MPR International GmbH

Publisher: MPR International GmbH

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