'Government R&D Public Hearing' Also Held Online Due to COVID-19

On the 27th, disinfection company personnel are conducting internal disinfection work at Asan Engineering Building, Ewha Womans University in Seoul. On the 25th, a family member of a student who visited the Asan Engineering Building was confirmed positive for COVID-19, leading to the closure of the building and restriction of access inside the building. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] The government has decided to replace public hearings, project briefings, and other events related to research and development projects with online formats to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). While this measure aims to curb the spread of COVID-19, it also appears to have a positive aspect in that it allows for gathering and deciding on more opinions than on-site events.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Science and ICT prepared a guideline to enable existing research and development project processes such as public hearings and project briefings to be conducted online to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and informed each institution accordingly.

The government decided to implement this measure to reduce large-scale face-to-face events, considering that the process of collecting opinions for promoting R&D projects is concentrated in the first half of this year.

First, for events such as public hearings and briefings, planning, project content presentations, and Q&A sessions can be conducted live online in real time.

In the process of collecting preliminary opinions related to research proposals, it is possible to conduct draft presentations and real-time Q&A sessions via online live streaming or to gather opinions through a publicly accessible Q&A board.

However, for events where there is a concern about leakage of research ideas, such as selection evaluations, the application of online platforms may be reviewed later.

For example, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the "Next-Generation Intelligent Semiconductor Development Project Device Sector Conference" online last month due to the spread of COVID-19. The ministry stated, "Despite preparing the event with a small budget, more researchers participated and were able to study research proposals than at an on-site conference."

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to conduct pilot online events for large-scale planned projects this year.

Ko Seogon, Director of Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "The need to introduce online platforms in the research and development project process has increased due to the spread of COVID-19," adding, "We will strive to establish an online communication system by turning this crisis into an opportunity."

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