Launch of Industry-Academia-Research Council for Creating New Industries Using Drones

Ministry of Science and ICT to Hold Inaugural General Meeting of 'DNA+ Drone Forum' on the 22nd

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] A public-private, industry-academia-research council has been established to discover new drone utilization services and business models.

The Ministry of Science and ICT held the inaugural general meeting of the 'DNA+ Drone Forum' on the morning of the 22nd at a hotel in Daejeon. DNA stands for Digital, Network, and Artificial Intelligence.

The ministry explained that this forum serves as a hub for industry, academia, and research to respond to the paradigm shift in the drone industry from manufacturing to services by integrating Data, Network, and AI technologies with drones to discover new drone utilization services and business models.

Hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, the forum is organized by the National Research Foundation of Korea, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, and Korea Unmanned Vehicle Research Association, and is composed of over 50 organizations from various drone industry stakeholders including industry, academia, research, and military sectors.

The main objectives are to create new services using drones, discuss management systems for data and platforms, build a sustainable industrial ecosystem, secure global competitiveness of the DNA+ drone platform, and lead technology advancement.

The forum is divided into three subcommittees: Business Model (BM), Platform, and Standardization. The BM subcommittee discovers new business models based on demand from public institutions to activate DNA+ drone services and establishes and revitalizes technology and industrial ecosystems linked with stakeholders for each BM. The Platform subcommittee establishes open service platforms, mission data for drone services, and platform technology management systems to spread related technologies, and conducts technology demand surveys and proposes new projects. The Standardization subcommittee carries out domestic and international standardization activities to discover standardization demands for activating the domestic DNA+ drone industry and identifies and proposes necessary regulatory improvements related to drone services. It operates in coordination with the 'DNA+ Drone Standardization Forum' of the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA).

Kim Bong-su, Director of Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “To respond to the paradigm shift in the drone industry, it is important to pioneer the drone-related service market by integrating Korea’s ICT technology. By discovering and spreading new drone business models, we will play a strong supportive role to revitalize the domestic drone industry.”