Government Selects 9 Major National Strategic Projects to Responsibly Shape South Korea's Future
Focused support for smart cities, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, etc.

Nine national strategic projects aimed at securing new growth engines have been announced.

The nine national strategic projects selected by the government this time are ① autonomous vehicles ② post-steel lightweight materials ③ smart cities ④ artificial intelligence ⑤ virtual and augmented reality ⑥ precision medicine ⑦ carbon resource utilization ⑧ (ultra)fine dust ⑨ biopharmaceuticals.

The government announced that at the 2nd Science and Technology Strategy Meeting presided over by the President held on the 10th, it decided to intensively foster nine national strategic projects through intensive investment at the national level and collaboration between the public and private sectors.


Among these, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to provide intensive support as the lead ministry for autonomous vehicles and post-steel lightweight materials projects to revitalize key industries and create new future markets.

It is projected to account for 75% of the new car market by 2035 and is expected to have a significant ripple effect on related industries such as semiconductors and ICT. Accordingly, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is promoting 'autonomous vehicles' as a national strategic project through inter-ministerial collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and others.

Intensive support for the localization of core components such as sensors and system semiconductors to reduce reliance on overseas sources

First, we will provide intensive support for the localization of core components, such as sensors, and system semiconductors that are essential for autonomous vehicles but are currently dependent on overseas sources. The plan is to develop eight key components essential for autonomous driving—including surrounding situation recognition cameras, radar/lidar, vehicle-to-external communication modules, 3D digital maps, integrated controllers, autonomous driving recorders, positioning, and driver monitoring—by 2019, and to secure automotive system semiconductor technology, which is expected to see high growth in areas such as image processing and communication, by 2021 based on excellent domestic semiconductor technology.

In addition, we plan to provide support to secure six major convergence technologies, including AI-based recognition rate enhancement technology, by utilizing world-class domestic ICT technology.

In addition to these, new convergence technologies include test systems utilizing virtual and augmented reality, electric vehicle-based autonomous driving platforms, traffic flow optimization technology, communication security, and cloud-linked mapping technology.

Based on excellent domestic semiconductor technology, we plan to secure automotive system semiconductor technology in 2021, which is expected to see high growth in areas such as image processing, communication, security, and HMI (Human Machine Interface) system semiconductors.

Through national strategic project R&D, we will expand convergence alliances between heterogeneous industries, such as domestic automobiles and ICT, where collaboration is currently lacking, and develop a common platform for autonomous vehicles designed with standardized interfaces by 2021 so that any ICT company can use it.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy identifies various service models to create new markets that may arise from autonomous vehicles, such as unmanned shuttles and traffic control, and supports their commercialization after demonstration in regulatory free zones. To this end, we plan to establish a global-level specialized testbed by utilizing regulatory free zones and other measures, and to comprehensively improve regulations that are excessive compared to developed nations through a joint effort by relevant ministries based on a comparative analysis of overseas laws and systems.

This project is scheduled to run for eight years starting in 2017 and is expected to require a total investment of 570 billion won jointly by the public and private sectors. If the plan proceeds without setbacks, it is expected to achieve results such as becoming a leading nation in autonomous vehicle technology, securing a global market share of over 10% for finished vehicles, and fostering 100 new small giants.

Building a smart city, artificial intelligence, and virtual/augmented reality ecosystem

Meanwhile, to build world-leading smart cities, we will combine our strengths in urban development experience with excellent ICT, and expand the construction of demonstration cities and entry into overseas markets. The government plans to improve urban management efficiency by more than 15%, create a high-value-added industrial ecosystem (fostering the top 10 global companies and 100 startups), and increase the proportion of overseas orders in the urban development sector.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology, which will lead the intelligent information society, aims to strengthen national AI technological capabilities and secure a leading position in the global AI market by securing core AI technologies. A collection of AI elemental technologies designed to comprehensively understand diverse expertise and support human professional decision-making will be developed through public-private collaboration. The goal is to enhance Korea's technological prowess through research on source AI technologies and to incorporate the results of these developments into a common AI platform.

We also focus on building a virtual and augmented reality ecosystem. We concentrate on developing core technologies for virtual and augmented reality and standardizing them. To ensure user safety, we promote research and development and international standardization to address human factor side effects such as dizziness and motion sickness.