Ministry of Science and ICT Establishes Strategy to Strengthen Commercial Software Competitiveness
From 10.7% in 2020 to 20% by 2025
Encouraging Public Institutions to Purchase Instead of Building New Systems
Supporting Development of High-Value Technologies like Cloud
Plans for Regional Industry and University Collaboration Development
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The government is increasing the usage rate of commercial (private sector) software (SW) in the public sector to drive the growth of the domestic software industry. The goal is to double the purchase ratio of commercial software by public institutions, which was in the 10% range as of 2020, to 20% within five years. Support will also be provided to enable the development of high value-added software that can create quality jobs centered on the cloud.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Software Impact Assessment System
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 17th that it has established a "Commercial Software Competitiveness Enhancement Strategy" with these contents to improve domestic software competitiveness and submitted it to the National Policy Review and Coordination Meeting.
To increase the effectiveness of the "Software Project Impact Assessment System," the Ministry of Science and ICT will mandate reflecting the impact assessment results through related legal amendments starting in 2022. Since the system was introduced in 2015, the government has recommended public institutions to purchase and use commercial software when available, but the compliance rate has been minimal. As of 2020, the purchase ratio of commercial software in public software projects was 10.7%, and the government plans to raise this to 20% by 2025.
Through amendments to the enforcement decree, a "mid-term demand forecasting system" will be introduced in 2022 to survey public software project demand on a medium-term basis (2-3 years before ordering). This will provide the industry with the necessary time and information for development and guide public institutions to commercial software that can be purchased without development. Related consulting will also be provided.
The system will be improved to allow the purchase of open software, which was previously not registrable on the Korea ON-line E-Procurement System (KONEPS). Open software is publicly available for anyone to use, but when software is developed using it, securing copyrights is difficult, making registration on KONEPS?which requires corporate copyrights?impossible.
Efforts will also be made to ensure fair pricing for software. The industry pointed out that the "maintenance rate," which is the operating cost after software purchase, was lower than the general fee standards. In 2020, the fee standard was 15%, while domestic public sector was 11.1%, private sector 12.4%, and foreign software 14.6%. After a joint public-private survey in the second half of this year, the actual payment rate will be increased and normalized by the first half of 2022.
Private investment-type projects utilizing private capital and technology will also be activated. A guideline will be prepared in the second half of this year for public institutions to refer to when promoting private investment-type software projects. An idea contest will be held, and public-private matching and pilot projects will be supported in the first half of 2022.
Support for High Value-Added Software Development
High value-added software will also be created through collaboration. Starting in 2022, excellent projects among collaboration models autonomously planned by the industry will be selected and supported as a package covering all stages from development to commercialization. Special focus will be placed on cloud software development. This is also part of the government's "Public-Private Cooperation-Based Software Talent Development Plan" announced on the 9th. It considers the demand for high-level software personnel who require quality jobs.
Customized support such as quality enhancement and localization will be provided to help excellent references like the AI medical software "Doctor Answer," developed through the Digital New Deal, expand overseas. Doctor Answer is diagnostic support software for eight major diseases including dementia and colorectal cancer, achieving groundbreaking clinical results and currently used in 18 domestic medical institutions.
To support the growth of regional software industries, five software promotion complexes will be established by 2025. Currently, 82% of companies and 88% of sales in the domestic software industry are concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area. Therefore, there have been calls for strengthening the industrial base linking regional industries, software companies, and universities.
Convergence projects will be discovered and supported, including region-led digital transformation of core industries and co-growth of software companies, regional software talent development and job creation linked with companies and universities, and super-regional projects involving division of labor and collaboration between regions. For example, Region A will specialize in AI-based technology, while Region B will focus on agricultural life and tourism data.
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