Science ministry plans to promote ICT’s convergence with industries

Science ministry plans to promote ICT’s convergence with industries. January. 28, 2016 07:14. by 신무경기자 fighter@donga.com.

The government has decided to promote "intelligence information technology" this year. It has also decided to support convergence and incorporation of ICT in various industries, including urban and transportation sectors, as well as in conventional industries such as shipbuilding and marine engineering.

The Science, ICT and Future Planning Ministry debriefed the president on its 2016 work plan that calls for these among other policy measures on Wednesday. The ministry has decided to converge ICT with shipbuilding and marine engineering sectors, and aviation and petrochemical industries, enhancing efficiency in production process. For example, the ministry plans to support firms to use big data gathered from sensors in aircraft engines and thus allow for early detection of abnormal signs in advance.

Korea will also incorporate ICT in the urban, transportation and medicine fields. By applying IoT in all different areas in urban settings, Korea plans to construct "Smart Cities" that switch on lighting on street lights when a person passes by.

Development of intelligence information technology is also one of major policy measures. In order to develop intelligent software, which enables machines to understand the meaning of news reports and video clips and recognize people’s emotions, the government will invest 30 billion won (24.9 million U.S. dollars) this year. The government also plans to establish an intelligence information technology institute and recruit distinguished scholars from overseas.

The government has also decided to pursue expedition to the moon for the first time in Korea by investing 20 billion won (16.6 million dollars) in research budget. The moon expedition project will be spearheaded by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

Meanwhile the government plans to establish "public broadcasting finance research committee" this year in an effort to improve the system for collection of reception fees from households to support Korea Broadcasting System. It will examine diverse measures including a hike in subscription fee and the establishment of an organization for calculating reception fees in order to enhance the quality of contents provided by public TV stations. To help galvanize the mobile phone market that became stagnant following the introduction of the mobile phone distribution act, the government plans to revitalize marketing programs including sweepstakes and discount of mobile telecom subscription fees for payment with credit cards.