Busan Challenges Core Technologies of New Textile Materials

Selected as a Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Project with a Total Budget of 112.4 Billion KRW

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kang Sharon] Busan City has secured a project with a total budget of 112.4 billion KRW this year for a national initiative to develop core technologies aimed at domestic production of textile materials that currently rely on overseas imports.

On the 19th, Busan City announced that local companies, universities, and research institutes participated in the textile new materials industry sector and were selected for nine projects under the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy’s ‘2020 Materials and Components Technology Development Project.’ Accordingly, with a project budget of 112.4 billion KRW, advanced material technology development for fostering key industries will be actively pursued through 2024.

The ‘Materials and Components Technology Development Project’ is a project aimed at reducing domestic material industry's dependence on overseas sources, achieving self-reliance in core materials, and developing technologies to secure global technological leadership.

Especially after last year’s export restrictions imposed by Japan, the government budget for this year was significantly expanded. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy supports 97 new projects across three major fields (Materials and Components Package Type, Strategic Core Materials Self-Reliance, and Convergence of Heterogeneous Technologies). After a public announcement in January and expert evaluations, the final selection results were announced.

To win this project, the city collaborated with local research institutions such as the Korea Footwear and Leather Research Institute, the Marine Convergence Materials Center, and the Busan Textile Materials Promotion Center, submitting essential technology development tasks in core materials such as elasticity, adhesives, and marine convergence materials, thereby challenging for the project rights in this field.

The nine selected projects include two in the ‘Materials and Components Package Type’ field: development of composite materials and components technology reducing weight by 30% in response to IMO regulations, and development of biomass-based functional polyurethane textile materials. Seven projects in the ‘Strategic Core Materials Self-Reliance’ field include development of functional diene-based elastic materials, high-performance elastic materials for extreme environments, high-performance and durable elastic materials for hydrogen electric vehicle gaskets, development of core materials implementing variability for stretchable devices, and development of regulation-compliant adhesive materials.

The city plans to carry out these projects in a consortium form of industry-academia-research institutes by 2024, supporting the development of core technologies aimed at domestic production and responding to global demands such as eco-friendliness, lightweight, and regulations.

A city official stated, “We plan to make Busan a hub for fostering elasticity and adhesive materials and marine materials by closely cooperating among industry, academia, and research institutes, not only for the development and self-reliance of core materials and components technologies in Busan’s traditional key industries and new industries.”

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