Next Year R&D Investment of 27 Trillion Won... Focus on 6 Areas Including 'New Deal, COVID-19, and BIG3'

Ministry of Economy and Finance Announces Detailed Plan for Next Year's R&D Budget

Budgets for 6 Sectors Increase by More Than 20% Compared to This Year
1.9 Trillion KRW and 800 Billion KRW Invested in Digital and Green New Deals Respectively
200 Billion KRW Allocated for Infectious Disease Response Including COVID-19

(Photo) [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The government plans to concentrate 48.5% of next year’s research and development (R&D) budget on six sectors: the Korean New Deal, infectious diseases, materials/components/equipment, BIG3 (Biohealth, Future Cars, System Semiconductors), basic foundational R&D, and talent development.

On the 4th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that out of the 27.2 trillion KRW R&D budget for next year, 13.2 trillion KRW will be concentrated in these six sectors. The R&D budget for these six sectors will increase by 20.1% from 11 trillion KRW this year.

First, 1.9 trillion KRW will be invested to support the Korean New Deal. The Digital New Deal will receive 1.1 trillion KRW to secure core digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and 5G, develop non-face-to-face industry technologies, and digitalize social overhead capital (SOC). The budget for next-generation artificial intelligence foundational technology development will increase to 34.7 billion KRW, and 17.2 billion KRW has been newly allocated for 6G core technology development.

The Green New Deal will receive 800 billion KRW. This will support the construction of green city infrastructure such as low-carbon high-efficiency building technology (11.5 billion KRW) and water and sewage innovation technology (30.5 billion KRW), as well as the enhancement of renewable energy efficiency and fostering promising green industries.

Two hundred billion KRW has been allocated for responding to COVID-19 and new or mutated infectious diseases. Investments will be strengthened in COVID-19 treatment and vaccine development, including clinical support for 10 candidate therapeutics (62.7 billion KRW) and 12 candidate vaccines (68.7 billion KRW). Infrastructure support for infectious disease research, such as expansion of biosafety research facilities, will also be provided.

The budget for materials, components, and equipment (2.2 trillion KRW) will increase by 25%. In response to the global value chain (GVC) restructuring caused by COVID-19, the list of 'Top 100 items against Japan' will be expanded and managed to '338 items globally.' For 25 items requiring inter-ministerial collaboration (148 billion KRW in 2020 → 611 billion KRW in 2021), efforts such as relay and joint initiatives will be made to maximize outcomes.

BIG3 will receive 2.3 trillion KRW in support. In the biohealth sector (1.7 trillion KRW), inter-ministerial collaboration will be conducted to support the entire lifecycle of new drugs and medical devices, and investments in talent development and regulatory science will be strengthened. In the future car sector, which will receive 400 billion KRW, technologies for the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles (Level 4) by 2027, electric and hydrogen car battery systems, and driving efficiency improvements will be supported. The system semiconductor sector (300 billion KRW) will support promising areas such as fabless companies from foundational technology to productization and strengthen investments to secure high-level talent. The budget for next-generation intelligent semiconductor technology development will increase from 89.1 billion KRW this year to 122.3 billion KRW next year.

To strengthen future science and technology capabilities, 7.3 trillion KRW will be invested in basic R&D. Researcher-led basic research through open competition will be expanded, and a world-class basic research environment will be created through operations such as the Institute for Basic Science.

Additionally, 300 billion KRW will be allocated for nurturing core high-level talent in new technology fields, and support for multi-ministerial joint convergence R&D to overcome the limitations of individual ministry-centered research and development will be expanded from 1.2 trillion KRW to 1.8 trillion KRW.

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