Display Industry Asked to be ‘Armed with Upper Hand through Continued Innovative Growth’

A view of a ceremony to market the 9th anniversary of Display Day at JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 1.

Minister Sung Yun-mo of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy delivers a commemorative speech at a ceremony to market the 9th anniversary of Display Day.

Minister Sung Yun-mo of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) called for the Korean display industry’s “super competitive edge” to ride out its rivals.

“Amid hard times, (the Korean display industry) will have to be armed with an upper hand through continued innovative growth to the extent that its rivals find it impossible to outrun it,” Minister Yoon said. To this end, he pledged the government’s aggressive support.

MOTIE Minister Sung made the remarks at a commemorative speech at a ceremony to market the 9th anniversary of Display Day at JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul on Oct. 1.

Display Day was designated in celebration of the Korean display industry’s seeing its display exports surpass $10 billion annually in October 2006. A Display Day anniversary event has taken place every year since 2010.

This is the ninth rendition of the celebration. Among those on hand at the event were Chairman Lee Dong-hoon of the Korea Display Industry Association (KDIA), concurrently president of Samsung Display, and President Shin Sung-tae of the Korea Information Display Society (KIDS).

Minister Sung appreciated the progress made in the Korean display industry and referred to it as an exemplary case of innovation-driven growth. He said the Ministry will provide full policy support for the display sector to develop next-generation display panels after liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), foster world-class OLED materials and parts manufacturers, diversify markets, and improve regulations for investment.

Thirty-nine people were decorated with diverse government prizes in recognition of their contribution to the development of the Korean display industry. The presidential award went to Vice President Kim Beom-sik of LG Display for his role in the development of the world’s first large-scale OLED panel and joint developing of OLED parts with SMEs.

Vice President Lee Joo-hyung of Samsung Display and President Doh Hyun-man of System R&D were honored with the prime minister’s prize in recognition of developing a notch-style, flexible OLED panel for the first time in the world and localizing OLED module equipment, respectively.

The ministry has pledged to be committed to playing as a support tower by letting the private sector spearhead innovation. A project to build an innovative display process platform will be implemented at a cost of 841 billion won during the period between 2019 and 2025. A feasibility study of the project is to be completed by October.

A combined 22.2 billion won will be invested during the period between 2019 and 2022 to develop core parts for OLED process equipment. Initially, 1.55 billion won will be set aside for the project next year.