Developing a comprehensive innovation plan for the industrial technology R&D system.
The Innovation Task Force will gather opinions through public hearings and other means until April.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to announce innovation measures within the first half of the year.


To overcome the low performance of government R&D compared to its investment and to reflect the changing technological environment in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has decided to prepare a comprehensive innovation plan for the industrial technology R&D system.

On the 20th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a launch meeting for the 'Industrial Technology R&D Innovation TF' at the The K Hotel in Yangjae-dong and began work on industrial technology R&D innovation plans.

The Innovation Task Force is comprised of a public-private joint committee, with Na Kyung-hwan, Director of the R&D Strategy Planning Division, and Kim Yong-rae, Director of the Industrial Innovation Growth Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, serving as chairpersons, and 15 experts from industry, academia, and research in related fields participating as committee members.

Beginning with the launch of the Innovation Task Force, the committee will collect diverse opinions through open discussions and hearings until April, and through these, will identify improvement measures for industrial technology R&D innovation, such as service R&D and open R&D.

The committee members who attended the meeting that day presented their opinions on R&D innovation in various areas, including task format, evaluation and research methods, and implementation plans.

In the assignment formatHe emphasized the importance of moving away from stability-oriented R&D by strengthening planning for tasks that integrate various industries and expanding challenging R&D, and urged the government to play an active role in expanding challenging R&D projects.

Regarding the project evaluation and research methods, it was mentioned that the flexibility of research methods was strengthened in August of last year, with the expansion of competitive and multiple R&D projects and the abolition of research presentations introduced in response to Japan's export restrictions. It was also suggested that the autonomy of researchers should be strengthened through simplification of systems such as settlement procedures in the future.

Kim Yong-rae, Director of the Industrial Innovation and Growth Office at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, “The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will identify the direction of system reform desired by the field through the operation of the Innovation Task Force and, based on this, create a flexible industrial technology R&D system that can reflect market trends in real time.”

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to establish an R&D innovation plan based on expert opinions gathered through the Industrial Technology R&D Innovation Task Force, open discussions, and public hearings, and announce the plan within the first half of the year.