Minister Yu of the Ministry of Science and ICT said on the 23rd, 'I will start again the task of building an ecosystem where relevant ministries for technology commercialization gather by the end of this year,' adding, 'We expect a big policy framework for technology commercialization to be outlined in the first half of next year.'
Minister Yu attended a year-end press meeting held at a restaurant near the government Sejong office, noting that building the technology commercialization ecosystem would be a key project for next year.
Minister Yu stated, 'The law related to technology commercialization was already legislated in 2000, yet still 24 years later, the ecosystem is not healthy.' He pointed out that as the national research and development (R&D) budget is being utilized, there have been criticisms regarding the lack of results in commercialization, explaining that discussions have been actively ongoing since September.
Minister Yu announced plans to establish a cross-ministerial organization that will gather personnel from various ministries handling technology commercialization, including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Startups, by the end of this year. He explained that since the Ministry of Science and ICT only deals with technologies at stages 4 to 5 of the Technology Readiness Level (TRL), a new organization would encompass all TRL stages from 1 to 9 leading to final commercialization.
Since his appointment in August, Minister Yu has consistently emphasized the importance of technology commercialization. Even before becoming Minister, he served as an executive director of the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and director of the Joint Research Center for New Materials at Seoul National University, handling technology commercialization tasks. He remarked, 'Leading the organization related to technology commercialization at Seoul National University made me realize that the domestic ecosystem had not been established,' and added, 'I thought that I would have to pour most of my energy into this role after being appointed as Minister.'
Regarding the recent passage of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment motion in the National Assembly in relation to the state of emergency, he remarked that there would be no disruption in policy implementation regardless of the current situation. Minister Yu said, 'Committees led by the president, like the National Space Council, may experience some delays, but since each ministry is preparing policies meticulously, I don't expect a significant impact,' adding, 'Science and technology and information communication technology (ICT) are the future growth engines for the nation, and the Ministry of Science and ICT will fulfill its role next year.'