South Korea to increase R&D support for material, component and equipment 

The South Korean government is planning to increase funding in research and development of materials, components and equipment in 2021.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said they plan to increase funding for related projects by over 20%.

The South Korean government last year opened to a new account for projects related to materials, components and equipment. This was largely in reaction to Japan’s export restriction imposed against South Korea in July 2018.

It had provided 2.745 trillion won in funding to related projects last year. 

The Ministry of Science and ICT said it plans to provide 5.8 trillion won in funding in projects related to science and IT this year. This is a 12% increase compared to its budget of 5.2 trillion won in 2020. 

Out of 2021’s budget, 287.9 billion won will be spent in core technology related to materials, components and equipment. This is 24.6% higher than last year’s 230.9 billion won.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said it plans to provide 4.95 trillion won in funding for industrial technology development this year. Around 1.511 trillion won will be spend on projects related to materials, components and equipment. This is 21.8% higher than 2020. 

Around 886.8 billion won will be spent on technology and 195.4 billion won in infrastructure. Around 9.7 billion won will be spent on connecting materials, components and equipment projects to global investments and 9.3 billion won in related labs. Around 16.7 billion won will be spent on new steel technology, the ministry said.

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said it will invest 2.55 trillion won this year in projects related to materials, components and equipment, a 23% increase compared to 2020. 32% of that will be spent on semiconductor and display, 17% in electronic device, 17% in machine and metal, 15% in basic sciences and 10% in automobile.