Special Regulatory Exemptions for New Technologies in Research and Development Zones, Created but with Zero Achievements

Democratic Party Rep. Cho Seung-rae Points Out Issues at Ministry of Science and ICT Audit on the 1st

A panoramic view of the Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone Support Headquarters, leading the qualitative growth of the Daedeok Special Zone.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The 'R&D Special Zone Demonstration Exception System,' which was expected to be a cradle for creating new technologies and new industries within the R&D special zones, has been found to be in a state of dormancy.

According to the 'R&D Special Zone Demonstration Exception Operation Performance' disclosed by Cho Seung-rae, a member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea (Daejeon Yuseong-gu Gap), there has been not a single approval case since the system was implemented in March this year. Only four applications for demonstration exceptions have been received.

This system is a regulatory sandbox that exempts some or all regulations when demonstrating new technologies in 17 R&D special zones nationwide, including the Daedeok Special Zone. When public research institutes or companies within the special zones apply, the government reviews the application and exempts regulations for 2 years (+2 years). Even considering that this year is the first year of the system's implementation, the performance is excessively low. In other fields such as ICT convergence and industrial convergence, an average of 43.2 applications were received in the first year of implementation. The average number of approvals in the first year was 33.8 cases.

Assemblyman Cho pointed out that the system does not meet field demand. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Science and ICT on demonstration demand in October-November last year before the system was implemented, 164 demands were identified from companies and 28 from public research institutes. The survey was conducted targeting only 458 out of about 7,000 companies and 86 out of 141 research institutes. Ultimately, the problem lies in the system design process ignoring companies. Technologies developed independently or jointly by companies were fundamentally excluded from the demonstration exception. Even if technology transfer was completed, joint application with public research institutes was mandatory.

Under the current system, companies within the special zones can only receive demonstration exceptions if they jointly apply with public research institutes for technologies transferred from public research institutes within the last 5 years.

Assemblyman Cho said, "The core actors in new technology demonstration and commercialization inevitably have to be companies, but the current system restricts company participation to the extent that it is like a pie in the sky for companies," adding, "The system must be promptly revised so that the challenging spirit of innovative actors within the special zones, including about 7,000 companies, is not stifled."

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