South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duck-soo presided the 1st National High-Tech Strategic Industries Committee (hereinafter “Committee”) Meeting on November 4 at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) in Seoul.
The Committee will serve as the highest decision-making body in the establishment, execution and inspection of policies for investment, personnel training, regulatory reform and finance in supporting the nation’s efforts to achieve a super gap across high-tech strategic industries.
There are 20 members from both the public (12 persons) and private sector (8 persons), composed of relevant ministries’ officials, and experts from economic organizations, industries, academia and the R&D sector.
Another important function of the Committee is to oversee regulatory exceptions, and take charge of the deliberation and resolution process regarding difficulties that domestic firms face to prevent them from falling behind in the high-tech race.
The abovementioned Committee meeting covered the following three agenda items.
One, the Government will designate three major industries (semiconductors, secondary batteries, displays) and related 15 high-tech strategic, world-leading technologies that necessitate the protection of the super gap, personnel and technologies.
Two, the Government will designate special industrial complexes and roll out packages catering to their needs in terms of securing the location, building power and water infrastructure, permits, technology, personnel and financing. The complexes will be designated by the first half of 2023.
Three, the Government confirmed its plans to designate schools for master’s and doctorate programs to train up a ready-to-work and specialized workforce. For the semiconductor industry, the plan is to train up 30,000 workers over the next decade, 5,000 of which will be educated through specially designated master’s and doctorate courses. Three semiconductor-specialized schools will be designated by early next year to start their programs in the second semester of 2023.
For secondary batteries and displays, one or two schools will be designated in 2024 after a demand survey, followed by a prefeasibility study for further designation.
The Government stated that the 2nd Committee meeting is slated for early next year, as high-tech strategic industries are growing in importance and prone to rapid changes.
Source: Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy