Minister Yoo of the Ministry of Science and ICT identified expanding investment in artificial intelligence (AI), establishing a leading research and development (R&D) system, and creating a technology commercialization ecosystem as key tasks for 2025.
In his New Year's address distributed on the 31st, Minister Yoo said, “The competition for global technological hegemony is accelerating, with advanced science and technology determining the nation’s existence and fate,” and added, “By 2025, we aim to contribute to realizing an economy that grows again through new industries created by technology.”
He noted, “Artificial intelligence is an essential asset that will determine the nation's future, and to become a global advanced nation, we must invest now,” stating, “We will quickly secure key assets such as GPUs and concentrate our budget on AI computing infrastructure, skilled personnel, and technology development.” He added, “We will proactively improve regulations that limit private investment and significantly expand investment incentives such as tax measures.”
Minister Yoo pledged, “We will increase investment in leading R&D aimed at the world’s first and best levels, such as national strategic technologies and innovative, challenging R&D, to the level of 35% of government R&D by 2027,” and emphasized his commitment to supporting creative and pioneering research while providing more research opportunities for young researchers.
He also emphasized the importance of creating a technology commercialization ecosystem. He stated, “To generate outcomes that align with the scale of government R&D, we will devise measures for government departments and the private sector to act as one team, supporting everything from technology transfer and startup to scaling up and global expansion of research results,” and added, “We will improve the incentive and evaluation systems to encourage researchers to actively engage in technology commercialization.”
Minister Yoo stressed, “In a situation where the economy is difficult and people's lives are hard, we will quickly implement key policies and related financial expenditures from the beginning of the year to ensure that the effects of these policies are rapidly felt in the industry and people's lives.”