Promotion of Software Industry
The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning announced on Jan. 15 that it would increase the number of global software companies from 20 to 50 between this year and 2017, while assisting in the growth of promising digital content companies so that Korea can be more competitive in the software industry.
Until now, the ministry has concentrated its tech startup support on college students and the general public. However, it is going to shift the focus toward those firms in possession of advanced technology, with the global software market revolving around cloud computing and mobile technology these days to make it more and more difficult for startups to survive.
The ministry’s plan is to promote software firms’ growth mainly in the fields of cloud computing, big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
It will focus on the growth of the information security sector as well by increasing the scale of the industry from 7.6 trillion won (US$7.0 billion) to 14 trillion won (US$13 billion) by 2017. In the same context, it sets up hotlines with 2,000 chief information security officers in the corporate sector and carries out cyber security inspections in 400 organizations.