S. Korea unveils tech research blueprint

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, Sept. 19 (Yonhap) -- South Korea unveiled a new 10-year blueprint Friday that aims to improve research efficiency in key industrial, energy and information technology (IT) development efforts.
The plan calls for 4 trillion won worth of state research and development (R&D)
funds to be allocated each year into 9,316 vital technologies that could help
sustain South Korea's economic growth in the future, the Ministry of Knowledge
Economy said.
It added the vital technologies from such sectors as advanced transportation, IT,
robotics, biotechnology, industrial materials and energy have been selected
because of their commercial potential, as well as their impact on industry and
the overall economy.
South Korea is the world's 13th largest economy and ranks 11th in terms of
international trade volume, but many of the goods it makes rely on technologies
developed abroad. This handicap has resulted in high royalty payments and certain
limits on adaptations and use.
"The blueprint is noteworthy since it encompasses strategic development goals for
industrial, energy and IT fields and could be followed through in a consistent
and efficient manner," said Lee In-ho, head of the ministry's industrial
technology policy division. He said in the past each sector tended to write
independent R&D roadmaps that sometimes overlapped and had to be adjusted.
Overlapping research results in waste of valuable resources that can hold up
development.
Of the total, 1,207 are long term projects, 6,681 are intermediate and 1,372 are
to be accomplished within a few years. A further 56 R&D endeavors are to be
carried out through international cooperation.