The Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Korea AeroSpace Administration said that on the 26th they held a strategy meeting to foster future new-security innovation corporations at Cheong Wa Dae's Chungmu Room, attended by about 60 officials from related ministries, small and midsize and mid-tier corporations, and private experts, and announced the "direction for fostering future new-security innovation corporations."
The meeting focused on thematic presentations and discussions to share the government's policy direction and gather opinions from the field. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (MSS) introduced the "plan to foster new-security innovation corporations," the Ministry of National Defense presented the "defense-sector promotion plan to foster new-security innovation corporations," and the Korea AeroSpace Administration outlined the "plan to enhance new security through the new space and aviation industry."
The government set a goal to build an ecosystem in which strengthening security capabilities and industrial growth form a virtuous cycle by leveraging private-sector innovative technologies, and to foster a "Korean-style Palantir." Palantir, founded in 2003, has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based battlefield information analysis platform that integrates and manages battlefield data in one, bringing the company's value to about $300 billion.
By 2030, the government plans to nurture five corporations in the new-security field valued at 1 trillion won or more and 50 innovation corporations with sales of 100 billion won or more. To this end, it will designate drones and robots, defense AI and semiconductors, defense sensors and future materials, space and aviation, and cybersecurity and quantum communications as strategic new-security fields, and will select corporations with innovativeness and growth potential as "new-security innovation corporations" for support.
It will also overhaul the procurement system. Aiming to shorten the initial deployment period of advanced weapons systems to within one year, it will expand a private-proposal acquisition method and shift the制度 to a model in which the military uses systems while improving performance. In non-defense fields such as space, aviation, and cybersecurity, it will introduce an "innovation-promoting contracting system" under the national contracts act to enable quick purchases of technologies and products from innovation corporations, and it plans to establish a milestone-based payment method that pays according to performance at each development stage.
It will also expand research and development (R&D) support. By introducing "OTA-type R&D," which links research and development through demonstration to procurement, it will provide up to 10 billion won per corporation over a maximum of five years, and it will strengthen the support system so corporations can participate in military operations and training to secure demonstration data and develop technologies based on on-site demand.
It will also expand the investment base. By establishing a "Korean-style In-Q-Tel," modeled after In-Q-Tel (IQT), the venture investment organization under the U.S. CIA, it will fill the early-stage investment gap and supply growth capital through a parent fund and a defense industry fund each sized at more than 1 trillion won. It will establish a technology-specialized asset management company, "(tentative) Korea Strategic Technology Partners," and over the next five years create an investment pool of up to 10 trillion won to invest in innovation corporations.
The government will jointly hold the intellectual property rights of technologies developed by innovation corporations with the government while guaranteeing the corporations' rights for civilian use, and it plans to support entry into global markets through commercialization and export support and expanded cooperation with large corporations.
In addition, it will establish a "new-security innovation corporations fostering committee," chaired by the prime minister, and a task force to build a pan-government cooperation system, and it plans to lay the groundwork for policy implementation by pursuing the enactment of a special law and revisions to related statutes such as the national contracts act.