Busan City Holds 'Local Research and Development Innovation Policy Forum'

On the 26th at 2 PM, Busan City Hotel, attended by over 30 local and external R&D stakeholders

Discussion on government R&D system innovation, reestablishment of national funding acquisition strategies, and regional R&D innovation plans

Busan City and the Busan Institute of Industrial Science and Innovation (Director Seo Yong-cheol) held the ‘Busan Research and Development (R&D) Innovation Policy Forum’ at 2 p.m. on the 26th at the Busan City Hotel Convention Hall.

Busan R&D Innovation Policy Forum.

To realize the transition to leading-edge research and development (R&D), the government established the ‘Government R&D System Innovation Plan’ and announced the ‘2024 National R&D Budget Allocation Adjustment Results’ reflecting this plan on August 22.

The 2024 national major R&D project budget has been reduced to 21 trillion won, a 13.9% decrease from the previous year. However, investments will be significantly expanded in seven core areas including global cooperation, advanced bio, artificial intelligence, quantum, and space, indicating major changes in the national R&D policy direction.

This forum was organized to redefine strategies for securing national funding in response to these government trends and to prepare innovation plans for regional R&D.

About 30 participants attended the forum, including Lee Kyung-deok, Director of Future Industry Bureau of Busan City, key R&D departments of Busan City, city council members, universities, companies, and representatives from research institutions both inside and outside the region.

In addition to local stakeholders, experts from government-funded institutions such as the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Planning and Evaluation, the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology, the Korea Technology and Information Promotion Agency for SMEs, the Korea Institute for Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning, and the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation also participated to gather perspectives on regional R&D innovation from a central government viewpoint.

At the forum, key response directions were discussed, including ▲improvement of the R&D system ▲focused nurturing of Busan’s promising fields among the 12 national strategic technologies ▲promotion of global super-gap R&D in regional strategic industries ▲reorganization of Busan’s R&D planning support system ▲and establishment of Busan’s own R&D digital platform.

For improving the R&D system, measures such as awarding additional points when reviewing investments in joint planning and cooperative projects among departments in the government’s seven core technology areas, and introducing a relative evaluation method for performance assessment were proposed.

Among the 12 national strategic technologies, promising fields in Busan were selected, and strategies for securing ecosystem development from basic source technology to industry were discussed, along with targets for super-gap R&D in regional strategic industries linked to key local hubs.

Particularly, the forum focused on strategies to respond to public project calls in areas expected to see increased national R&D budgets next year, such as quantum, secondary batteries, advanced bio, and semiconductors.

Additionally, to secure national funding, a close cooperation system among Busan City, researchers, and the Busan Institute of Industrial Science and Innovation was established, and measures to strengthen R&D planning were discussed.

Lee Kyung-deok, Director of the Future Industry Bureau, stated, “Based on the opinions presented at this forum, we will set future policy directions to nurture regional strategic industries through science and technology, which are sustainable growth engines for Busan, and prepare innovative measures to respond to government R&D system reforms. Through this, we aim to proactively respond to changes in national R&D and secure substantial national funding in new R&D fields.”

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