South Korea to draw up strategies for seven future-technology fields by year-end

South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on 22 October that it held a meeting with the presidential office and related ministries to prepare field-by-field implementation strategies for the "7 SEED Projects". Yonhap reported that the meeting took place at the National Science and Technology Advisory Council in Gwanghwamun, Seoul. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

The 7 SEED Projects are a government-wide programme to develop seven fields as national future growth engines: small modular reactors (SMR), nuclear fusion, renewable energy, quantum, aerospace, advanced bio and advanced supply chains. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

At the meeting, participants discussed specifying the core missions and performance goals to be reached in each field and linking them to supporting R&D projects and investment plans. They also discussed making combined use of ministries' policy tools, including support for demonstration and commercialisation and improvements to regulations and systems, the ministry said. Newsis added that the meeting shared drafting guidelines for the field-by-field strategies and a plan for forming and running a Frontier Board, and reviewed each ministry's progress and cooperation. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Asia Economy and Newsis reported that the government announced its direction for the project at a report meeting chaired by the president in August, and that a September meeting of science and technology ministers set the cross-ministry framework and the plan for drafting field-by-field strategies. The ministry plans to complete the strategies within the year with the ministries concerned, and to keep checking results and major issues as the project proceeds. [ 1 , 2 ]

Park In-gyu, head of the ministry's Office of Science and Technology Innovation, asked each ministry to make its core goals clear and to pool its efforts. He said the government would actively use available tools, including priority budget allocation, links to commercialisation and clearing of regulatory and licensing obstacles, to support results from the projects. According to Newsis, he called the project a national joint mission to secure core strategic assets and next-generation growth engines by combining government investment with private-sector commercialisation capacity. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]

Yonhap also reported that the ministry has created a Future Pioneering Planning Division within the Office of Science and Technology Innovation and runs it as the dedicated body for the project. [ 3 ]