Director General for Industrial Technology Policy Cha Dong-hyung of the 

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. (Photo:MOTIE)

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) is pushing ahead with projects to develop six mega tasks in the systems industry: wearable smart devices, self-driving automobiles, systems for processing advanced materials, public safety and health care robots, vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles (VTOL-UAV), and marine plant engineering for extreme environments. These are part of the shortlist of 13 mega-tasks for four arenas Korea will develop as the nation’s growth engines, which was approved during the 4th National Science and Technology Deliberation Committee Meeting last Dec. 19. The following are excerpts of an interview between NewsWorld and Director General for Industrial Technology Policy Cha Dong-hyung of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) in which he enumerated plans to implement the mega convergence research tasks of the systems industry field. 

Question:  Will you explain the current status, R&D plan, participatory companies, and industrial spillover effects surrounding projects to develop core parts and critical technology elements for wearable smart devices?

Answer: With the advent of wearable devices, a full-fledged market is forecast to emerge, but related technology elements have to yet be secured, so urgent technology development is required. With a trend shift from smart gadgets’ recognition and their holding to wearing, global makers such as IBM, Nike, Sony, Samsung, Google, and Apple have begun to release products. They devote themselves to securing related proprietary technology with a focus on wearable devices to prepare for the post-smartphone era as the global smartphone market is saturated with each country’s average use of smartphones surpassing 50 percent. 

We’re going to push for the development of seven target segments — four materials/components: input technology for wearables, output technology, processing technology, and power technology, and three platforms: life/culture platform, special purpose-oriented platform, and user/device connection platform. 

R&D Status & Plan — One of the three strategies our ministry employs is to secure convergence patents involving materials, parts, platforms, systems, software, design, and connection with the existing technologies. The second strategy is to produce material and parts according to each stage, commercialize platforms and system technologies, and develop and commercialize products according to each stage. The third strategy is to create a creative ecosystem to connect content, network, and service through the development of materials/parts and platform technologies and establish a global collaboration network to create new markets.

A business team will serve as a control tower to have synergetic effects among diverse participants, including companies, schools, and research institutes, and to enhance outcomes. 

Corporate and industry participants 

The tentatively named Wearable Smart Device Forum composed of experts from government, industry, academia, and research circles was inaugurated at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Seoul on March 4. 

The forum, which has a membership of 50 experts from MOTIE, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, the Electronics Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), and the Korea Electro-technology Research Institute. The forum, divided into a technology standard subcommittee, a service subcommittee, and a policy institution subcommittee, is designed to establish a virtuous ecosystem of wearable smart devices and give a shot in the arm to the industry. 

The forum is expected to change into a co-prosperity collaboration committee between large-sized companies and SMEs after the conclusion of a feasibility study into the project. 

Companies participating in the research project will set up the tentatively-named Wearables Industry Association to build the value chain in the process of commercialization and prod more companies’ participation in the research project. 

Autonomous vehicle 

Industrial spillover effects 

The project will likely bring about production, income, and employment induction effects in diverse industries through technology commercialization by creating a wide range of new markets and services. 

Mid- and long-term outlook & strategies 

The global wearable smart device market is predicted to grow explosively after hitting the point of inflection in two and three years. 

Q:  Will you elaborate on the current status, R&D plan, participatory companies, and industrial spillover effects surrounding projects to develop technologies for self-driving automobiles?

A: The projects call for creating future growth engines for Korean SMEs and strong mid-sized super companies based on automobile, IT, and software convergence in order to make the Korean automobile industry more sophisticated and promote national interests for the welfare and safety of the elderly. They aim at fostering SMEs and mid-sized super companies as first movers of global markets by securing value-added core parts and technology. We want to build a horizontal industry ecosystem of division of labor among large-sized and smaller companies, a departure from the conventional conglomerate-oriented one. 

Countries funnel huge amounts of money into developing next-generation automobiles, with global automobile leaders focusing on eco-friendly and autonomous cars, a segment for possibly creating new jobs through grafting IT, software, and semiconductor — advanced industries — to the conventional automobile technologies and interdisciplinary convergence. Korea needs to conduct proactive roles to conquer the emerging market to narrow technology gaps with front-runners, elude foreign technology dependence, and prevent the disruption of the existing production base. 

R&D plans — Our ministry set technology R&D goals at making self-driving possible without hands on the steering wheel and eyes looking forward while targeting its commercialization.

Corporate participants and the industry community’s activities 

We’ve designed the top 10 core parts, including surround sensors, smart actuators and V2X telecommunications modules, in which Korean SMEs and mid-sized super companies have the potential to survive. Participatory SMEs that are taking the initiative in developing the parts plan to carry joint R&D activities with automakers purchasing the planned parts. 

Industrial spillover effects 

The paradigm for self-driving automobiles will shift from the conventional two-stage method of initial technology development followed by quality enhancement to a unified system to shorten market entry time.

The projects aim to put two parts makers, seven large-sized companies, and 10 mid-sized super firms on a list of the global top 100 companies by 2025 by securing leading technologies for self-driving automobiles. They will likely bring in about 226 trillion won in accumulated sales and 100 trillion won in exports during the period between 2020 and 2029 thanks to the early commercialization of technologies and a rise in sales caused by rising demand from multiple parts consumer companies, according to a commissioned survey report. Their accumulated production induction effects and accumulated income creation effects are projected to stand at 78.348 trillion won and 21.287 trillion won, respectively, while they will have job-creating effects of employing 244,265 people. The introduction of smart cars, following the development of autonomous car technologies, will halve traffic accident deaths on expressways and reduce social costs by 389 billion won. 

Mid- and Long-Term Outlook & Strategies 

Global carmakers are predicted to raise self-driving automobile production from 8,000 units in 2020 to 95.4 million units in 2035 with an annual average growth rate of 85 percent. Autonomous automobiles are forecast to account for 75 percent of car sales in 2035.    

The short-term plan calls for commercializing the top three services and top four core parts for the Level Two stage of combined function automation. A related project business group will likely establish a separate long-term commercialization plan at the Level 3 stage of limited self-driving automation, taking into account legal, institutional, and social acceptance levels. 

Q:  Will you introduce the current status, R&D plan, participatory companies, and industrial spillover effects surrounding projects to develop systems for processing advanced materials?

A: Advanced countries and global companies are scrambling for technology leadership for systems for manufacturing super-intensive and super-light advanced materials in keeping with global trends such as stringent environmental restrictions. Korea now fully depends on foreign manufacturing system technologies for such value-added industries as aviation and automobiles. Such advanced materials as CFRP, titanium, inconel, and CGI are expected to soar as future industries with price declines, rising demand, and wider product applications. 

Korea, which ranks fifth in terms of material manufacturing systems, works on the development of mid-tech equipment, but the nation falls far behind advanced countries, which dominate the area of high-end manufacturing system technologies. 

R&D 

A combined 200 billion won will be funneled into R&D activities for creating new industries in the aviation field, firming up the nation’s major industries, automobiles and ICT, and building a joint ecosystem with machinery and other industries. Market-oriented R&D activities will be conducted to help the existing industries — machine tool industry ranking fifth and the globally top-ranked ICT industry — to rise to global powerhouses. Consumer companies, supply firms, system, solution, and other businesses participle in joint projects covering the whole of the industrial ecosystem. 

Corporate and industry participants 

Korean large-sized consumer companies are encouraged to participate in projects to make inroads into foreign markets. High-tech manufacturing systems will be placed into the production lines of aviation parts for foreign outsourcing demand to verify technology prowess and explore foreign market entry. A few aircraft makers, dominating the global market, have a tendency to favor verified manufacturing systems. 

Industrial spillover effects 

The projects are designed to achieve a target of creating 94,000 jobs by 2020, based on direct and indirect employment effects, as well as a goal of exports of $15.2 billion by 2020. 

The aviation industry will be nurtured as a national strategic and new industry by securing core technologies. The automobile and automotive parts industries will be firmed up and upgraded to enhance competitiveness and attain competitive excellence through ICT convergence. The projects will build up a manufacturing connection value chain through the development of joint core technology elements between new industries and major industries.

Q:  Will you touch on the current status, R&D plan, participatory companies, and industrial spillover effects surrounding projects to develop vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicles (VTOL-UAV)?

A: A technology evaluation for feasibility survey has been approved for the projects. The smart UAV development project between 2002 and 2012 and the TR6X-class tiltrotor UAP development project between 2012 and 2013 were conducted to secure proprietary core tiltrotor UAP technologies. 

R&D 

The projects are likely to launch R&D activities in 2015 after a feasibility survey is okayed later this year. 

The R&D plan between 2015 and 2022 calls for meeting Korean and foreign demand for tiltrotor UAVs for autonomous flight, high-speed vertical landing and takeoff, and developing high-performance VTOL-UAVs to obtain market leadership as well as developing futuristic high-performance tiltrotor UAVs, outfitted with leading UAVs technologies and Integrated Modular Avionics (IMA)-based embedded software technologies. 

Industrial spillover effects 

Korea aims at obtaining a 12.4 percent share in the global UAV market, which is projected to surge from $5.2 billion in 2014 to $21.5 billion in 2030, and securing a 1.6 percent share in the global IMA-based embedded software market, which is forecast to jump from $44.6 billion in 2014 to $189.7 billion in 2030. The projects will yield 14.6 trillion won in production induction effects and create 47,000 jobs. 

Q: Will you be specific about the development of public safety and health robots?

A: In October 2012, the government announced a mid- and long-term plan to implement large-sized top-four robot projects based on the robot future vision between 2013 and 2022. The ministry decided to launch a feasibility study on two robot areas — disaster relief robots against large-scaled accidents and health care robots. 

The projects call for developing robots for public safety and welfare to meet national policies for coping with the aging society and a variety of disasters as well as rapidly changing market conditions. 

R&D 

The project’s R&D tasks are designed to develop an integrated robot system for preventing or responding to industrial disasters and saving human lives by utilizing multiple robots in a situation in which human activity is impossible in the case of large-sized accidents and industrial disasters, as well as health care robots that will offer support for daily life, nursing, diagnosing and rehabilitating in silver towns, sanatoriums, and hospitals. 

Industrial spillover effects

The projects will involve the localization of core robot and parts technologies for industrial disaster and health care robots and SMEs capable of handling diverse demands from consumers. They are design-ed to create value-added industrial disaster and health care robot markets. Under the project, convergence and interdisciplinary manpower specializing in robot areas, who are to be made available to other industrial fields, will be nurtured. 

The projects will have other impacts, such as halving the estimated 700,000 lives and 106 trillion won in direct and indirect damages caused by industrial disasters by 2030, as well as reducing annual medical costs for the elderly by 1.2 trillion won in 2023. 

Mid- and long-term outlook 

The projects aim at advancing an entry into the industrial disaster robot market and make the related technologies available for 3D worksites, the decommissioning of nuclear power units, and the national defense and aviation fields.  

They will have an impact of substituting for imported health care equipment by achieving self-sufficiency of core technologies related to health care robots and parts and securing competitiveness in the related service areas. 

Q:  Will you enumerate the current status, R&D plan, participatory com-panies, and industrial spillover effects surrounding a projects to develop marine plants for extreme environments?

A: The projects are designed to enhance technology prowess by securing design, installation, material, and operational technology for marine plant engineering for an extreme environment and obtain leadership in the market at an early stage as well as achieving shared growth between large- and small-sized companies and creating new jobs.

The size of the global marine plant engineering market is projected to grow from $145 billion in 2010 to $503.9 billion in 2030. Demand for marine plant engineering for extreme environments, which contain a 13 percent share of the untapped crude oil reserves and a 30 percent share of the untapped gas reserves, is on a constant rise. The nation badly needs to create added values in the marine plant engineering sector and new markets by securing marine plant engineering technologies for extreme environments.

R&D 

The R&D tasks involve design, engineering technologies, materials, and installations and components for excavating and processing resources in extreme environments.

Industrial spill-over effects 

Economically, the project aims at obtaining international competitiveness in the marine plant engineering industry and the creation of added values, creating new markets, building a marine plant engineering ecosystem by securing core capabilities in value chain in materials, design, and operation technology, and spillover effects in energy resources, plant, marine transportation, shipbuilding, and marine installations and components. Technologically, the project is designed to enhance national R&D and science and technology capabilities in the marine industry, create R&D outcomes in areas other than the marine industry, making the most of marine resources, marine convergence materials technology and manufacturing process bases they will obtain, building a research & business development (R&BD) system, and boosting advanced convergence technology through marine plant engineering technology innovation.  

Mid- and long- outlook 

The size of the global market is forecast to surge to $84 billion in 2030. The industry will likely see exports jump from $1.75 billion in 2013 to $25 billion in 2030. The project is designed to help the nation take the lead in the global engineering market and maximize added values by securing proprietary design, ice performance verification, and operation. SMEs and mid-sized super companies will strengthen their capabilities by securing and localizing installations and components for extreme environments and material technologies. The project is predicted to create 85,000 jobs by 2030. 

The action plan calls for creating new markets and industries by commercializing marine plant engineering technologies for extreme environments, operating private sector-initiated research collaboration among industry, academia, and research institute circles, pursuing shared growth and job creation between large- and small-sized companies by securing proprietary technologies and technology self-sufficiency, creating an environment for fostering futuristic manpower, and building infrastructure for developing and certifying key installations and components.