The government has launched the 'National Advanced Strategic Industry Committee' to respond to the global competition for technological hegemony and is providing focused support to the advanced strategic industry ecosystem.

The government announced on the 4th that it had formed the first 'National Advanced Strategic Industry Committee,' chaired by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, as the command center for the pan-government advanced strategic industry policy.

The Committee serves as the highest decision-making body for discussing relevant policies and plans, including investment, workforce training, regulatory reform, and finance, to support securing a significant lead in domestic advanced strategic industries.

The government announced last month that it would promote the 'National Strategic Technology Project,' which involves setting goals and making joint investments through the public and private sectors, by presenting 12 national strategic technologies.

Based on this, the committee, which was launched, is composed of private members with diverse expertise from government ministries, economic organizations, industry, academia, and research institutions, and plans to establish national strategies.br />
■ Key Agenda Items for Public-Private Joint Advanced Strategic Industries

Fifteen new national advanced strategic technology fields were selected across three industries: semiconductors, secondary batteries, and displays.

The government announced that it conducted a technology demand survey to identify the demand for 43 national advanced strategic technologies across a total of 9 industries, and selected the semiconductor sector (8 technologies), the display sector (4 technologies), and secondary batteries (3 technologies) by gathering opinions from experts in industry, academia, and research institutes.

In addition, specialized complexes will be designated to provide focused support to the advanced strategic industry ecosystem, including leading domestic companies, materials, parts, and equipment firms, as well as universities and research institutes. This will involve the establishment of infrastructure, expedited licensing, and customized support in areas such as technology, human resources, and finance. These complexes will be designated by the first half of next year following an open call this year.

To resolve the shortage of skilled personnel in national advanced strategic industries, the government designates and provides focused support to specialized graduate schools in specific technology fields and encourages them to conduct research and development projects in collaboration with companies.

In particular, the semiconductor sector plans to train 30,000 master's and doctoral graduates over the next 10 years, of whom about 5,000 will be trained through specialized graduate schools. To this end, three semiconductor-specialized graduate schools will be designated first by early next year.

In the fields of secondary batteries and displays, the pilot designation of at least one specialized graduate school is planned for 2024, and a preliminary feasibility study for additional designations is planned.

Meanwhile, in line with the rapid growth of high-tech strategic industries, the 2nd National High-tech Strategic Industry Committee is scheduled to be held as soon as possible early next year, and plans are in place to identify and formulate various policies to strengthen the competitiveness of the national high-tech strategic industry ecosystem.