The government will launch a "pan-ministry advanced medical device research and development project" that will inject 940.8 billion won over seven years from this year through 2032. Of that, 838.3 billion won will come from the state budget. With such large-scale fiscal spending, the key question is whether it can lead to actual commercialization and export results.
This project is the second phase of the pan-ministry medical device research and development program launched in 2020. As in phase one, four ministries—the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Ministery of Food and Drug Safety—will push it forward jointly. The plan is to support the entire cycle from design and development to mass production, market entry, clinical distribution, and localization of essential medical devices.
The first-phase project injected 947.9 billion won and supported 467 tasks. As a result, 504 medical devices received domestic and overseas approvals. Of 25 biohealth corporations listed on KOSDAQ, 10 received that support. According to the program office's estimate, supported companies attracted investments totaling 550 billion won, and sales performance reached 192.1 billion won.
Jeon Gi-young, Deputy Minister of the pan-ministry medical device research and development program office, said at the "2026 new support target task briefing" held in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 13th, "We conducted the final evaluation of phase one through last week and confirmed meaningful results," adding, "We expect to carry the momentum into phase two." Jeon said, "I expect this year's competition rate to exceed 5-to-1."
The phase-two goals are ▲ six world-first or world-leading medical devices ▲ nine products with annual sales of 10 billion won or more ▲ localization of 13 essential medical devices ▲ adoption by 22 tertiary general hospitals ▲ approvals and market entry in 22 advanced medical markets.
In the first year, 59.325 billion won in national funds will support 106 new tasks. It is organized based on the plan that passed the preliminary feasibility study in Aug. last year.
The project has three major tracks.
First is "global flagship medical device development." It allocates 13.425 billion won to five tasks. Support is divided between "world-first medical devices" and "world's most advanced medical devices."
World-first refers to cases recognized for technological originality for the first time in major countries such as the United States, Japan, and Europe. Examples presented include an autonomous steering flexible endoscope and an implantable in-body brain–artificial intelligence–robot real-time linkage system.
World's most advanced medical devices must objectively prove superiority in performance and safety compared with existing equipment. These include a whole-body digital positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, a digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) device, and radiation cancer treatment equipment.
Second is "core medical device technology and product development." It will spend 35.55 billion won to support 68 tasks, focusing on six areas: software medical devices, u-healthcare, medical robots, medical implants, interventional medical devices, and next-generation molecular diagnostics.
It includes 21 product development tasks such as a degenerative brain disease diagnostic system and a digital surgical assist robot cooperative system, as well as 10 tasks that link phase-one results to productization.
It will also push localization of essential medical devices. A total of 123 items with no domestic production and high technological difficulty are candidates. Seven tasks are planned, including development of ventilators for newborns and children.
Third is "strengthening capabilities for clinical adoption." It will support 33 tasks with 10.35 billion won: 12 domestic and overseas clinical trials, and 21 tasks responding to regulatory science and international standards.
Nam Gi-hwan, Head of Team at the pan-ministry medical device research and development program office, explained regarding on-device artificial intelligence (AI) in the ultrasound imaging field that it "means AI that is mounted on actual devices based on Edge Computing."
Regarding patent support, Nam said they will support intellectual property (IP) risk analysis in connection with the Korea Intellectual Property Strategy Agency (KISTA) and provide matched funding by task.
The call for new tasks runs from Feb. 6 to Mar. 9. Details are available on the pan-ministry integrated research support system (IRIS) and the pan-ministry medical device research and development program office website.