Government Supports K-Quarantine and Bio Industry... Medical Device Development Assistance

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun is experiencing AI-related medical devices at the 'Data-AI On-site Visit and Meeting' held at Saltlux in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 29th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Junho] On the 13th, a project group will officially launch to promote a cross-ministerial full-cycle medical device research and development project worth 1.2 trillion KRW to strengthen the competitiveness of the domestic medical device industry.

The Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will hold the opening ceremony of the '(Foundation) Cross-Ministerial Full-Cycle Medical Device R&D Project Group' on the 13th. At the inaugural board meeting, the attending board members will receive reports on the establishment process and future plans of the project group, and approve the 2020 business plan and budget (draft), among other matters. The project group will be led by Professor Kim Beopmin of the Department of Bioengineering at Korea University.

The four ministries plan to strengthen the competitiveness of the K-medical device industry through this project group. To this end, the government will promote differentiated research and development (R&D) support compared to the past, including designating strategic items to increase market share, developing core components and elemental technologies to strengthen the value chain, pursuing challenging technology development to preoccupy future markets, and supporting licensing and approval from the R&D stage through the participation of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

In particular, to respond to infectious diseases such as COVID-19, proactive development of technologies for ventilators, ECMO core components, and respiratory disease in vitro diagnostic devices will also be conducted.

This year's new tasks were planned based on preliminary feasibility study data, and the Request for Proposal (RFP) for new tasks has been pre-announced since the 8th on the websites of three specialized institutions (Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, National Research Foundation of Korea, Korea Health Industry Development Institute). Opinions will be accepted until the 17th. After the pre-announcement period ends, new tasks will be selected and supported through project announcement and other application procedures in July to August.

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