Developing 'DNA Memory' and 'Unmanned Aerial and Submersible Vehicles'

Government Innovation Challenge Project Promotion
Strengthening Challenge with DNA Memory, Unmanned Mobile Vehicle Development, and More
Full Effort for Developing Innovative Technologies

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] DNA memory that stores data semi-permanently without power consumption by utilizing the properties of biological DNA is being developed. Research has also begun to develop unmanned mobile vehicles capable of operating both in the air and underwater. The government will actively promote innovative challenge projects that seem to come straight out of science fiction movies starting this year.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 2nd Innovation Challenge Project Promotion Committee meeting to establish the operational direction of the 'Innovation Challenge Project,' which supports ultra-high difficulty research, and to discuss the themes of this year's planned projects.

Start of the Innovation Challenge Project

Global Data Production Trends

The Innovation Challenge Project is a task promoted to strengthen the innovativeness and challenge of national research and development. It sets highly difficult tasks and focuses on producing results through specialized management methods and flexible research to solve them.

To secure the challenge aspect of government R&D, the project leader was also selected from the private sector. Former Samsung Electronics Vice President Minhyung Jeong was entrusted with the leadership. He is an R&D expert who has been responsible for research and development operations, intellectual property management, and management at Samsung Electronics and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology for 37 years.

The promotion team's strategy is summarized as ▲enhancing the strategic nature of projects through mission-oriented planning, ▲two-track project planning with exploratory and package types, ▲leading a challenge-centered research culture and improving systems, ▲pursuing process innovation to lead a new research culture, and ▲open, continuous planning and discovery of research themes.

DNA Memory, Flying Unmanned Submarine

Jung Min-hyung, Head of the Innovation Challenge Project Promotion Team

The promotion committee has confirmed two of the five research themes for this year. First, it will develop a DNA-based memory system to accommodate the data explosion caused by the 4th Industrial Revolution. This task departs from the conventional approach of increasing memory capacity by enhancing silicon-based semiconductor capacity per unit area or securing new device source technologies. The goal is to develop a new memory system using DNA-based technology. DNA memory is a new concept memory that can be managed semi-permanently without power consumption.

Additionally, it will develop unmanned mobile vehicles capable of operating underwater and in the air. These vehicles can assess accident sites from the air during maritime disasters and dive underwater to locate ships in case of capsizing.

The promotion team plans and oversees two projects with the responsible ministries, and the remaining three projects will be set by September this year. Then, each relevant ministry (Ministry of Science and ICT for DNA memory, Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries for unmanned mobile vehicles) will go through the budget request process by May next year and start new R&D from early 2022.

Promotion Team Leader Minhyung Jeong stated, "We will take the lead in establishing a successful case of bold research that is not bound by existing practices to lay the foundation for national R&D innovation," and added, "We ask for active interest from related ministries so that the Innovation Challenge Project can serve as a practical platform for conducting challenging research."

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