R&D Zones to Be Restructured Around Commercialization... Outline of 5th Comprehensive Plan Revealed

Connecting the Full Cycle from Talent Development to Startups and Corporate Growth
Strengthening the Role of Regional Innovation Hubs

The government will restructure research and development (R&D) zones into ecosystems centered on technology commercialization. The goal is to break away from the existing structure that focused solely on generating research outcomes, and instead, connect the entire cycle from talent development and startup creation to commercialization and corporate growth.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on March 18 that it will hold a public hearing on the "5th Comprehensive Plan for Fostering Research and Development Zones (draft)" in Daejeon on March 19.

The 5th Comprehensive Plan is a statutory plan under the "Special Act on the Fostering of Research and Development Zones," with the core objective of advancing R&D zones into regional innovation hubs based on industry-academia-research collaboration.

Since last year, the Ministry has formed an expert committee to establish key strategies, including full-cycle support for the commercialization of research outcomes, building an ecosystem linking talent, startups, commercialization, and corporate growth, and developing innovation-driven growth strategies based on the R&D zones.

In particular, this plan focuses on transforming R&D zones from simple research clusters into "growth platforms" linked to local industries.

The government will release the comprehensive plan at the public hearing and gather feedback. After coordinating with relevant ministries, the final plan will be confirmed through a review by the R&D Zone Committee in April.

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