Establishment of Hub Centers at Overseas Universities and Research Institutes... Joint Research on Semiconductors and AI

Ministry of Industry Announces Plan for International Industrial Technology Cooperation Projects
56% Budget Increase for International Industrial Technology Cooperation Projects
57.5 Billion KRW Invested in Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Center

The government will invest 165.8 billion KRW, 1.5 times more than last year, in the 'International Industrial Technology Cooperation Project' this year to secure next-generation core industrial technologies. In particular, it plans to establish a new 'Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Center' project to develop breakthrough technologies in collaboration with leading overseas universities and research institutions.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the 'Integrated Implementation Plan for the International Industrial Technology Cooperation Project' on the ministry's website and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology website, outlining these details.

In December last year, the government announced the 'Comprehensive Strategy for Global Technology Cooperation,' which includes measures to swiftly secure technologies that are difficult to develop domestically alone through joint research with overseas research institutions.

To support this, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy increased the budget for the International Industrial Technology Cooperation Project from 106.1 billion KRW last year to 165.8 billion KRW this year, a 56% increase. By project type, 28.5 billion KRW will be invested in the 'bilateral funding' projects where both governments jointly fund agreed-upon fields, and 23.1 billion KRW will be allocated to 'multilateral funding' projects involving multiple countries through a global joint research platform. Additionally, 50.4 billion KRW will be provided for the 'strategic technology' projects that support products tailored to global corporate demand and the introduction of overseas technologies.

Especially, the newly established 'Global Industrial Technology Cooperation Center' project to secure next-generation core industrial technologies will receive the largest investment of 57.5 billion KRW this year. This project is designed to establish cooperation hubs with world-class universities and research institutions with top-level technological innovation capabilities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Stanford University in the United States, and to support domestic companies in joint research and development and personnel exchanges. This year, six cooperation centers will be established first, and approximately 50 joint research projects will be launched.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's policy is to focus support on high-difficulty tasks that can achieve world-leading or first-ever results in emerging promising industries such as semiconductors, bio, batteries, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics. Cooperation centers eligible for support will be selected by March, and full-scale joint research will be supported starting in the second half of this year.

The ministry also plans to establish a 'Global Corporate Industrial Technology Linkage' program to induce R&D investment from overseas major corporations and promote the inflow of leading overseas technologies to secure core technologies for domestic companies in the future. On the 25th at 3 p.m., an online briefing session will be held to provide information about the project to prospective participants.

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