▲Ministry of Science and Technology 2023 Advanced Convergence Technology R&D Project Budget (Image Source: 2023 Government R&D Project Joint Ministry Briefing Session)

1/3 of R&D budget for unmanned vehicles and convergence fields
Unmanned Vehicle R&D Budget, ↑16% from Last Year

The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) announced its R&D budget, including the development of core technologies for traffic management systems for unmanned vehicles and intelligent response technologies for illegal drones.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 3rd at the '2023 Government R&D Project Joint Briefing Session' that it will invest 54.143 billion won in six R&D projects related to unmanned vehicles.

This is an amount that is 15.8% higher than the budget of 46.764 billion won for the same five projects last year.

The convergence field, which includes unmanned vehicle-related businesses, has a total of 15 projects planned for 2023, with a total budget of approximately 150 billion won.

When we look at the number of unmanned vehicle businesses and the fact that they account for one third of the budget, we can see that they occupy an important position in the convergence field.

The support contents for each detailed business are as follows: △Development of future leading core technologies for unmanned vehicles △Development of original technologies for unmanned vehicles △Development of DNA+ drone technology △Development of intelligent response technology for illegal drones △Development of stratospheric drone technology for continuous disaster surveillance △Development of unmanned vehicles and SW platforms linked to public innovation procurement.

The core technology for the future of unmanned vehicles is unmanned vehicles in low-altitude airspace.The goal is to develop core technologies for traffic management systems for efficient and safe use of drones. The budget for 2023 is 3.6 billion won for one project, 'Development and verification of drone application communication technology based on 433MHz', which is a 14.3% decrease from the budget for the same project last year (4.2 billion won).

The development of unmanned vehicle core technology aims to strengthen the technological competitiveness of unmanned vehicles by securing innovative core technologies to implement the next-generation unmanned vehicles, investing KRW 25.62 billion in 2023. This project has been ongoing since 2020, and a budget of KRW 149.54 billion has been set until 2027. This is a 1.6% increase from KRW 25.21 billion last year, and KRW 11.63 billion will be spent on unmanned vehicle common core technology, KRW 13.06 billion on the integrated operation technology demonstration unit, and KRW 930 million on project group operating expenses.

The purpose of the DNA+ drone technology development project is to enable non-line-of-sight, autonomous control flight, and remote operation through the development of convergence technology of D (data), N (5G), A (artificial intelligence) and drones, and to create utilization and services based on real-time high-definition data processing. Of the total budget of KRW 45 billion from 2020 to 2024, KRW 9.825 billion will be executed in 2023.

The development of intelligent response technology for illegal drones aims to develop intelligent response technology based on drone cop and forensic technology to secure the safety of national key infrastructure from threats from illegal drones, and will invest a budget of 4.1 billion won in 2023. This is a 10.3% increase from last year's budget of 3.744 billion won.

The development of stratospheric drone technology for continuous disaster surveillance aims to develop a solar-powered drone that can carry disaster surveillance equipment weighing more than 20 kg in the stratosphere and stay in the air for more than a month. A budget of 37.47 billion won has been set for 2022 to 2025, of which 12.28 billion won will be invested in R&D in 2023. The 2023 budget has increased significantly by 206% compared to last year's budget of 40.1 million won.

The purpose of the development of unmanned vehicles and SW platforms linked to public innovation procurement is to create a new market and lay the foundation for traditional culture industries through the fusion of traditional culture and science and technology. A total of 2.7 billion won will be invested in 5 ongoing projects and 4 new projects, a total of 9 projects, and the budget has increased by 270% from 1 billion won last year.