Hong Nam-ki: "Last Year Was a 'Year of Job Recovery'... Innovation in Bio Industry Through R&D Innovation and Regulatory Advancement" (Comprehensive)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwangho Lee] Hong Nam-ki, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, evaluated on the 15th that "last year was a 'year of job rebound' showing a significant recovery in both quantity and quality."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong stated this during his opening remarks at the Innovation Growth Strategy Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office Building, saying, "Employment indicators last year showed a more solid recovery trend toward the end of the year."

Last year, the number of employed persons was 27,123,000, an increase of 301,000 compared to the previous year, showing a much larger increase than the worst level seen in 2018 (97,000).

He said, "The government will concentrate all policy capabilities to ensure that the employment improvement trend from last year continues this year, and will also make every effort to improve vulnerable sectors such as manufacturing and people in their 40s."

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hong discussed ▲ bio-industry innovation policy directions and key tasks ▲ improvement plans for core biohealth regulations ▲ public sector strategies to realize social value ▲ follow-up plans for the economic sector of the 2020 Presidential New Year's address.

Since November last year, Hong announced five major strategies confirmed through discussions of the bio-industry innovation task force (TF), which includes 10 related ministries and 10 major national research institutes.

Hong said, "We have established five major strategies including groundbreaking research and development (R&D) innovation, training of new technology convergence personnel, advancement of regulations and systems, ecosystem creation, and commercialization support," adding, "Through this, we will expand the scope of innovation not only in red bio (health and medical) but also into green bio (food and resources) and white bio (environment and energy) sectors."

Deputy Prime Minister Hong also announced improvement plans for core biohealth regulations. He emphasized, "Following the passage of the Data 3 Act in the National Assembly, we will prepare guidelines for the use of medical data and accelerate the establishment of five health and medical data centers (public, bio, hospital, new drug, cosmetics)."

Additionally, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) medical device items will be separately reviewed, and a priority review system for innovative medical devices will be introduced to significantly reduce the current 90-day approval period.

Other regulatory improvement plans discussed included revitalizing health management services and simplifying duplicate certification for medical devices.

Deputy Prime Minister Hong also announced a roadmap to lead and expand the realization of 'social value,' a development concept that comprehensively balances economic, social, environmental, and cultural areas, starting from the public sector to the private sector.

He said, "We will select about 100 social value projects in the public sector for focused management and strengthen social value across all areas of organization, personnel, finance, and evaluation by designating dedicated social value departments in each institution." He added, "We will also do our best to expand into the private sector by developing indicators to evaluate sustainable management activities and additionally creating social economy innovation towns."

Attending the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki, Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, Financial Services Commission Chairman Eun Sung-soo, Blue House Chief Economic Secretary Lee Ho-seung, and Statistics Korea Commissioner Kang Shin-wook.

From the private sector, Kim Bong-jin, Innovation Growth Ombudsman; Park Joo-bong, Small and Medium Business Ombudsman; Won Hee-mok, Chairman of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association; and Lee Kyung-guk, Chairman of the Korea Medical Devices Industry Association, were present.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.