COVID-19 Economic Crisis "Early Overcome Through R&D Expansion"

Minister of Science and ICT Choi Ki-young is giving opening remarks on the 1st at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, ahead of a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Yoo Eun-hye to discuss cooperation in building a remote education infrastructure. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] The government has formulated an R&D investment strategy to overcome the economic crisis caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) at an early stage. It aims to absorb the employment shock to research personnel caused by COVID-19 and secure jobs by discovering new non-face-to-face businesses. It is also making efforts to establish technological independence in materials, parts, and equipment, and to set up an infectious disease response system, focusing all efforts on crisis response using science and technology.

Early Overcoming of COVID-19 Economic Crisis through R&D

On the 21st, Namsan in Seoul is quiet due to the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 27th that the 11th Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting was held on the afternoon of the 27th via the Onnara Ieum video conference. At the meeting, the 'Post-COVID R&D Investment Strategy' to overcome the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 was urgently discussed.

According to this plan, the government will provide customized R&D support to prevent threats to R&D jobs caused by COVID-19. It will also extend R&D support to maintain employment of research personnel in small and medium-sized enterprises. The government is implementing support measures such as reducing the burden ratio for small and medium-sized enterprises and mid-sized companies, easing cash burden ratios, and providing labor cost support. In addition, the government has ensured that research projects can be continuously connected by reflecting new tasks in R&D sunset projects.

The government will also expand investment in government research and development projects and create jobs by fostering digital and non-face-to-face service industries. It will strengthen infectious disease preparedness R&D through fostering excellent diagnostic companies, securing core platforms for vaccines and therapeutics, quarantine and clinical technologies, and convergence of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data.

Removing R&D Silos Between Ministries

Additionally, the government discussed measures to improve R&D efficiency at the meeting. Within this year, the government will integrate researcher information systems and begin pilot operations. It will also establish standard task management procedures and sequentially build an integrated task support system considering the characteristics of each ministry and specialized agency.

Until now, the research field has raised issues such as inconvenience caused by operating different research support systems for each ministry and specialized agency, and insufficient information sharing due to R&D silos between ministries and specialized agencies.

Furthermore, the government will prepare an R&D roadmap for stable supply and efficient utilization of raw materials in the materials industry. To this end, the government discussed strategic support measures for selecting core resources such as rare metals and technologies tailored to field demand. It also reviewed support measures for common utilization technologies in resource development and recycling fields, as well as recycling technologies for rapidly increasing future waste resources such as solar panel waste.

In addition, the government discussed a strategy for building an intelligent smart unit through civilian-government-military cooperation for the military's 'Smart Defense Innovation.'

Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT stated, "In these difficult times due to COVID-19, it is very important to consider the direction of science and technology and our country with a long-term vision and perspective. The agenda discussed today hinges on close cooperation among related ministries, and we will continue discussions to accelerate inter-ministerial collaboration based on science and technology so that science and technology can contribute to solving various problems in the economic and social sectors."

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