The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 4th that they will push ahead with the second-phase pan-ministerial advanced medical device research and development project, investing a total of 940.8 billion won over seven years from 2026 to 2032 (838.3 billion won from the state budget and 102.5 billion won in private funds).
The goal of the project is to develop six game-changing medical devices that are the world's first or at the highest level, and to localize 13 essential medical devices.
It will support the entire cycle of medical device research and development from basic and source research to commercialization, clinical trials, and regulatory approval. In particular, by focusing on the strategic development of future promising fields such as medical devices that use advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, it plans to enhance competitiveness in the global medical device market and foster the medical device industry as a new national growth engine.
Based on the successful results of the first-phase pan-ministerial full-cycle medical device research and development project that has been promoted since 2020, this project passed the preliminary feasibility study for national research and development projects in August this year. A preliminary feasibility study evaluates the economic viability of large-scale research and development (R&D) projects worth 50 billion won or more.
In the first-phase project, a total of 467 tasks were supported, achieving 433 domestic and foreign approvals over the past five years (331 domestic and 102 overseas), 72 technology transfer cases, and 254 commercialization cases.
It produced world-class research outcomes such as the localization of blood filters for artificial kidneys, which had relied entirely on imports, and the development of the world's first AI-based stroke diagnosis support software medical device.
The government plans to continue full-cycle support for medical device R&D through follow-up projects so that these achievements can continue without interruption.
To that end, the government held a briefing session on the second-phase pan-ministerial advanced medical device research and development project on the 5th at the President Hotel in Jung District, Seoul, in cooperation with related ministries.
The briefing session was held to improve understanding of the project among researchers in industry, academia, research institutes, and hospitals in the medical device field and to encourage active participation. The session provided details on the main content of the project and how to participate in and the schedule for new tasks next year, and included a Q&A and on-site feedback.
The government said, "This project is a pan-ministerial cooperation project that supports the development of advanced medical devices, a national growth engine," and added, "For the successful implementation of the project, we will continue to communicate with the research field so that researchers' voices can be actively reflected."