Selected 31 ICT R&D Innovation Voucher Projects... 11.8 Billion KRW Invested This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 7th that it has selected 31 new projects for the '2020 ICT R&D Innovation Voucher Support Project' to promote the rapid acquisition and commercialization of ICT technologies by domestic venture, small, and medium-sized enterprises, and will begin full-scale support. A total of 11.8 billion KRW will be invested this year in 31 projects including Tuneit's active AI vehicle management service (Tuneit) and Elcomtec's unmanned inspection drone collision prediction technology.

Classifying the selected projects by technology field this year, there are 9 projects (29%) in software and artificial intelligence, 11 projects (35.5%) in the Internet of Things, 4 projects (12.9%) in wearables and devices, 4 projects (12.9%) in communications and radio waves, and 3 projects (9.7%) in security and others. In particular, this year, the Ministry of Science and ICT explained that projects developing new convergence services using core ICT technologies such as components and AI necessary for building ultra-low latency and hyper-connected environments for 5G mobile communications stand out.

MF is undertaking the 'Big Data-based Solid and Drug Development System Research' project, developing an optimal drug mixture analysis model by combining big data and AI technologies, and developing improved new drugs for two types of reflux esophagitis. FiberPro's 'Development of Optical Modulator for Terabit-level Data Transmission' project aims to develop an ultra-compact optical modulator that dramatically improves processing speed (from 10 GHz to 50 GHz) in response to explosive data growth in 5G mobile communications, promoting the localization of imported high-spec optical modulator components.

Tuneit's 'Active Non-face-to-face AI Vehicle Management Service Development Project' and Innogrid's 'AI-based Veterinary Medical Image Information Interpretation Software Development Project' are non-face-to-face service projects that have recently gained attention due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Jang Seok-young, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The ICT R&D voucher is an important project that provides customized technology to companies instead of budgets and grants them research and development leadership, preventing budget misuse and offering opportunities for innovative leaps through ICT.” He added, “In the current situation where the economic downturn is worsening due to COVID-19, the government will actively support so that commercialization activities using information and communication technologies by small and venture companies do not shrink but regain vitality.”