Korea-France Jointly Discuss New Industry Technology Cooperation... "Preparing for Post-COVID"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, together with the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, will jointly hold the 6th Korea-France New Industry Technology Cooperation Forum via video conference on the 23rd.

This forum is an opportunity to share the achievements of joint R&D efforts so far and to identify future cooperation partners and derive collaborative projects. Despite the challenging conditions caused by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), 106 domestic companies and 59 French companies, research institutes, and universities have come together to continue technology cooperation activities in new industry sectors in preparation for the post-COVID era, which is significant.

At this event, the two countries will share their cooperation strategies for the post-COVID era, evaluate the projects conducted so far, and propose new cooperation ideas.

In the special speaker session, Total, a leading French energy company, will present on France’s offshore wind power technology and its linkage with Korea’s Green New Deal policy. Korea’s Bioneer, a company exporting COVID-19 diagnostic kits, will present detailed bio-technology fields where bilateral cooperation is essential.

During the cooperation session, the current status of the Korea-France joint R&D program support will be introduced along with sharing success stories of recently completed joint R&D projects.

Korea’s Korea System Assurance (KOSYAS) and France’s SECLUDIT developed a 'cloud service-based security information management system,' securing core technology and achieving an import substitution effect of 2 billion KRW annually.

Korea’s Aisat, together with the French company Eutelsat SA, developed the world’s first next-generation satellite-compatible modem and is soon expected to lead the market by delivering to Eutelsat, the consortium member and largest customer.

Korean company Waytiz has been developing communication data processing technology for autonomous vehicles with France’s FAAR Industry since 2017. With the project ending last month, they sold the V2X analysis system license, and sales are expected to accelerate.

Technology cooperation ideas discovered through future forums can be submitted to the 2021 Korea-France International Joint R&D project. The two countries plan to select R&D projects next year and provide up to 15 billion KRW in funding over three years.

Park Jin-gyu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, stated, "Amid the massive changes such as the acceleration of digital transformation due to COVID-19, we hope to promote global innovation and lead the technology paradigm through the strategic partnership between Korea and France."

Meanwhile, the forum began in 2014 at the proposal of French President Macron, who was then Minister of Economy and Finance, and this year marks its 6th session.

The two governments have supported about 31.5 billion KRW for 14 projects across six major fields including autonomous vehicles, digital healthcare, displays, and IT convergence, producing results such as pioneering new markets and developing innovative products.

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