Government to Allocate 21.6 Trillion Won for R&D Next Year... Strengthening Investment in Bio, Automobile, and Semiconductor Sectors

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] The government will invest 21.6492 trillion KRW in next year's national research and development (R&D) projects, an increase of 9.7% compared to this year.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the afternoon of the 26th that it finalized the "2021 National R&D Project Budget Allocation and Adjustment Plan" at the 11th review meeting of the National Science and Technology Advisory Council held that day.

The goal is to strengthen investments in three major focus industries?Biohealth, Future-type Automobiles, and System Semiconductors?as well as basic research, to expand future growth potential.

In the three major focus industries of Biohealth, Future Automobiles, and System Semiconductors, 2.15 trillion KRW will be supported, an increase of 440 billion KRW compared to this year. The Biohealth sector will invest 1.4974 trillion KRW, 30.4% more than this year, to support technology development, clinical trials, approval and licensing, and commercialization of new drugs and medical devices.

In the future automobile sector, 385.3 billion KRW will be invested, including a new investment of 88.2 billion KRW in the autonomous driving technology development innovation project, to support technology development, demonstration, and system improvements to commercialize fully autonomous driving 'Level 4' by 2027. In the system semiconductor sector, a budget of 270.2 billion KRW will be allocated to secure next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence semiconductors.

For infectious disease response, including COVID-19, 377.6 billion KRW will be invested, a 117.2% increase from this year's 173.8 billion KRW.

A new investment of 111.4 billion KRW will be made for candidate substance optimization and clinical support for COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccine development. Additionally, 16.5 billion KRW will be allocated for quarantine technology development and 8.9 billion KRW for quarantine supplies technology development. Furthermore, 10.2 billion KRW will be invested in developing core platform technologies for responding to new and mutant infectious diseases.

Regarding the Korean New Deal, including the Digital New Deal and Green New Deal, 2.46 trillion KRW will be invested, a 45.6% increase from this year's 1.69 trillion KRW.

The Digital New Deal budget will increase by 48.9% to 1.5457 trillion KRW, including 1.06 trillion KRW for creating the Data, Network, and Artificial Intelligence (DNA) ecosystem and 200 billion KRW for fostering non-face-to-face industries. The Green New Deal budget (912.5 billion KRW) will also increase by 40.4%. To reduce the R&D burden on small and medium enterprises, 2.4107 trillion KRW will be invested, 7.6% more than this year's 2.2406 trillion KRW.

To develop future promising core technologies such as materials, parts, and equipment, 2.1 trillion KRW will be supported. Basic research will receive 2.35 trillion KRW, a 15.8% increase from this year's budget, and talent development will be allocated 2.15 trillion KRW, a 25% increase from this year.

Additionally, investments will be made in ▲advancing science and technology-based criminal investigations (2.8 billion KRW), ▲establishing disaster response systems (8.1 billion KRW), and ▲medical waste treatment technologies with infection concerns (6.5 billion KRW).

The government plans to enhance the investment system by integrating the review of collaborative projects for joint utilization of R&D outcomes and rapid linkage, investing 1.2482 trillion KRW in collaborative projects.

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