Government Invests 841 Billion KRW in Material and Component Technology Development Project to "Reduce Overseas Dependence"

Reference photo. [Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] The government will invest 841 billion KRW in the materials and components technology development project this year.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 3rd that it has allocated a budget of 841 billion KRW for the '2022 Materials and Components Technology Development Project,' a 22% increase from last year's 689.2 billion KRW. The goal of this project is to reduce overseas dependence on materials and components and enhance the global competitiveness of manufacturing through technological advancement.

Specifically, 735.8 billion KRW and 105.2 billion KRW have been allocated to 'package-type projects' and 'heterogeneous technology convergence projects,' respectively. Package-type projects develop technologies that can be linked to various unit technologies such as core materials, components, and modules. Heterogeneous technology convergence projects develop convergent materials and components for industry linkage and short-term commercialization.

Marking the 4th anniversary of the policy to strengthen the competitiveness of materials, components, and equipment (SoBuJang), the government aims to enhance the supply stability of 185 core SoBuJang items. To this end, it supports cooperation with demand companies through package-type projects such as exclusive R&D for leading companies, demand-supply company cooperation models, and joint R&D in specialized complexes. A rare metal response project has also been newly established to reduce overseas dependence on rare metals and improve the completeness of the SoBuJang supply chain.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will announce 74 newly planned projects and open-call projects for this year's materials and components technology development project to select lead research and development institutions. The announcement period is from the 4th to the 7th of next month. This announcement is the first round, with a scale of 58.3 billion KRW. The 74 newly planned projects were selected through industrial sector technical committees and industry-academia-research evaluations from 886 projects received during the industry demand survey conducted from July to August last year.

During the application period, the ministry will accept research and development plans through the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology's R&D Information Portal. After expert evaluations, lead research and development institutions will be selected in April this year. The deadline for revising and submitting research and development plans has been changed from 24:00 to 18:00 starting this year to apply the same standards as the Integrated Research Support System (IRIS).

Lee Kyungho, Director of Materials, Components, and Equipment Cooperation, said, "Building on the experience of overcoming supply chain crises, we hope that solidarity and cooperation between demand and supply companies, as well as between large and small-medium enterprises, will spread for the localization of advanced SoBuJang." He added, "We will faithfully implement SoBuJang policies and technology development plans to ensure that core items with high overseas dependence are not shaken by external risks."

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