Bio Tech Development
The Korean government will invest 315.7 billion won to secure original technologies for bio sectors such as new drugs, medical devices, future medical care, genomics and brain science this year. Moreover, a bio entrepreneurial ecosystem will be created to quickly commercialize secured technologies and strong support will be given to 'open innovation' among industry, academia, the government and hospitals.
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on February 2 that it will invest a total of 315.7 billion won in fundamental bio technology development projects including 262.6 billion won for bio-medical technology development projects, 11.3 billion won for post-genome projects and 41.3 billion won for fundamental brain science technology development projects in 2017.
This year's budget is 31.4% more than last year’s. A budget for new projects is worth 134.4 billion won, 2.4 times last year's. Looking at the new initiatives, 34 billion won will be invested in R&D to discover targets for new drugs and candidate substances. The government will shell out 24 billion won to secure key core technologies for the development of new-concept medical devices and technology development based on consortiums among industry, academia, research centers and hospitals.
Furthermore, the government will spend 30.4 billion won on future medical technologies such as precision medicine, preventive medicine and regenerative medicine. The 30.4 billion won includes 4 billion won which will go to the microbiome sector which explores microorganisms in human bodies. The genomic sector will receive 4.9 billion won and the brain science sector, 14.5 billion won.
This year's projects are characterized by the diversification of operation systems with a focus on the creation of tangible results. First of all, the government will invest 11.4 billion won in 'hospital-linked package R&D' to make hospitals advanced bases for bio-innovation.
Ten Bio Creative Economic Vitalization Projects will be carried forward in earnest to build a 'lab to market' ecosystem where newly developed fundamental technology will be immediately commercialized in the market. This year's new projects include the Bio-Entrepreneurship Project, the Bio-Enterprise Researcher Start-Up Support Project, Bio Core Facility Construction Project, the Bio Partnering Follow-Up Support Project and the establishment of special purpose bio corporations and will cost a total of 36.2 billion won.