Minister Lee Jong-ho of the Ministry of Science and ICT: "Economy is Difficult but Science and Technology are Hope"

First Press Conference After Inauguration on the Morning of the 20th

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Lee Jong-ho, Minister of Science and ICT, announced plans to innovate the national research and development (R&D) system to be centered on the private sector.

Minister Lee made these remarks during his first press briefing since taking office on the morning of the 20th at the Seoul Press Center. He stated, "Our economy is currently facing significant difficulties," citing the so-called 'three highs (high inflation, high exchange rates, and high interest rates) crisis' caused by the aftermath of the pandemic and the Ukraine war, as well as the resurgence of COVID-19. However, Minister Lee pointed to recent achievements such as the successful second launch of Nuriho on the 21st of last month and the awarding of the Fields Medal to Heo Jun-yi, a professor at Princeton University and a distinguished professor at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, saying, "Science, technology, and information and communications have demonstrated that they can present a vision for tomorrow and become a new hope for the people."

He then introduced the five major innovation tasks reported to President Yoon Seok-yeol on the 15th. He said, "We have selected five core tasks to newly establish a national innovation system based on public-private cooperation, spread leading technological innovation and digital innovation, and achieve the goal of national and social development," adding, "First and foremost, to secure a super-gap technological edge in the era of technological hegemony competition, we will innovate the national R&D system from government-led to private sector-centered."

Specifically, he explained plans to promote the cultivation of national strategic technologies, improve preliminary feasibility studies for R&D, encourage private investment through joint public-private technology development and transfer of public technologies to the private sector, and secure future innovative technologies responsible for the next 10 to 20 years.

He also expressed commitment to talent development and digital innovation. Minister Lee stated, "The most important asset is people. In an era of population decline, we will establish a differentiated talent development system to nurture qualitatively excellent talent," and pledged, "We will further accelerate digital innovation across the entire national society. Through AI projects addressing complex challenges, digital platform government, and highly autonomous voucher-based support, we will achieve digital innovation centered on the private sector across the economy, industry, and society."

He continued by emphasizing the spread of "technology that makes everyone happy." He explained, "We will strengthen efforts to create a warm society by alleviating communication cost burdens, improving digital accessibility for vulnerable groups, and fostering a platform-based win-win ecosystem."

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