"Strengthening the Materials Sector is the Key to Future Competitiveness"…KIPO and Rep. Park Beom-gye Hold Joint Forum

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] “Strengthening innovation capabilities in the materials sector serves as a driving force to elevate the overall competitiveness of the domestic industry.”

The Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced on the 15th that it held the “Strategy Forum for Strengthening Korea’s Materials Innovation Capabilities with Intellectual Property” jointly with Assemblyman Park Beom-gye at the Government Complex Daejeon.

At the event, Professor Hwang Cheol-seong of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University emphasized, “Maintaining a super-gap and creating a new gap through large-scale training of outstanding talent in the semiconductor materials field is the lifeline for Korea,” adding, “From a long-term perspective, investment to secure foundational technologies and fostering a social atmosphere that favors technology are absolutely necessary.”

This reflects the context that when innovation capabilities in the materials sector, which forms the foundation of all industries, are supported, the domestic industry can secure future competitiveness.

In particular, during the panel discussion, experts from various fields such as materials development, new materials creation, and infrastructure establishment offered suggestions for materials innovation. The main recommendations included the need for continuous support to ensure the success of domestic companies’ research and development (R&D) and facility investments for localization of materials and components, the necessity of technology development and talent cultivation support for next-generation photoresist development and stable production, accumulation and utilization of materials data for efficient new materials development, and the establishment of a dense patent network using patent big data.

Previously, the importance of localization of materials and components was highlighted during Japan’s export restrictions triggered in July last year. At that time, ‘Soulbrain,’ which supplied hydrofluoric acid materials to the domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry, succeeded in localization through mass production of 12N liquid hydrofluoric acid with government support and its own technological capabilities amid the crisis caused by export restrictions.

Also, LG Chem, focused on materials development, achieved a remarkable feat by capturing a 27% share of the global electric vehicle battery market in the first quarter of this year, ranking first worldwide and enhancing its dominance in the global electric vehicle battery market.

The actions of these companies serve as examples supporting expert opinions that strengthening innovation capabilities in the materials sector can elevate the overall competitiveness of the domestic industry.

At the forum, Assemblyman Park Beom-gye said, “I hosted this forum to lead innovation in the materials sector, which is the foundation of all industries,” and added, “We will spare no support to accelerate materials innovation by forming a triangular axis with semiconductor, display, and battery core materials companies located in the Daejeon-Chungcheong area, the synchrotron accelerator planned to be built in Cheongju, and the ‘Materials Innovation Platform Center’ to be installed in Daejeon.”

Park Won-joo, Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office, stated, “Patent big data is an important resource for understanding global industrial trends and predicting future promising technologies,” and said, “We believe that the AI-based ‘National Patent Big Data Center,’ opening on the 18th, will play a significant role in supporting materials innovation based on intellectual property.”

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