No 'Growing Pains' for SoBuJang... 500 Billion KRW More to Be Spent on R&D for 100 Key Items This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government will newly invest 485 billion KRW this year in research and development (R&D) of 100 key materials, parts, and equipment items in major industries such as semiconductors. It will simultaneously support technology development, patent issue resolution, and testbeds for performance evaluation.

On the 31st, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced a support project for technology development of 100 core items in materials, parts, and equipment. From March, it will begin selecting lead organizations in earnest.

It will spend 330 billion KRW on technology development projects targeting about 1,000 companies. Following last year's supplementary budget of 65 billion KRW supporting 25 items, this year it will focus on the remaining 100 items.

It will use a new budget of 271.8 billion KRW for the 'Materials and Parts Technology Development' project to stabilize supply chains and induce development of core materials and parts technologies. The 'Core Technology Development for Machinery Industry' project will receive 57.8 billion KRW to help companies develop and demonstrate precision processing equipment and mechanical component technologies.

By industry, support will be broadly provided with 31.5 billion KRW for semiconductors and displays (29 research projects), 54.6 billion KRW for machinery and equipment (60 projects), 64.9 billion KRW for metals (53 projects), 63.4 billion KRW for basic chemicals (50 projects), 42.3 billion KRW for textile carbon (37 projects), 30.5 billion KRW for ceramics (37 projects), 20.6 billion KRW for electrical and electronics (18 projects), and 9.4 billion KRW for automobiles (11 projects).

Additionally, new industry materials, parts, and equipment technology development such as alloy powders for 3D printing and new materials related to secondary batteries will also be supported to prepare for the future.

Demand and supply companies will be encouraged to participate together in projects to promote collaboration. Depending on industry characteristics, competitive and multiple-type projects will be supported if necessary.

Competitive R&D involves supporting the same project to two or more lead organizations, evaluating them over a certain period, and then supporting the superior organization. Multiple-type R&D supports the same goal through two or more different approaches.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy added that it will invest about 140 billion KRW in 15 public research institutions to establish testbeds so that developed technologies can be immediately applied to product manufacturing.

Also, together with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, it will support 15 billion KRW for companies' patent-based R&D strategy support (IP-R&D). IP-R&D is an R&D strategy that analyzes patents linked to technology development to avoid existing patents while securing core technologies.

From the early stages of technology development, patent strategy experts will be assigned to companies to help them avoid existing patents and secure technological capabilities domestically by providing customized patent strategies for each project.

An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy emphasized, "We plan to steadily continue policies that stabilize the supply of materials, parts, and equipment and strengthen competitiveness by supporting not only R&D management but also investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and more."

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