Ministry of Science and ICT Holds 1st General Meeting of 'ICT Budget Policy Council'

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] On the 21st, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the 1st plenary meeting of the ‘ICT Budget Policy Council (Policy Council).’

The Policy Council is composed of the Ministry of Science and ICT and nine ICT project-dedicated agencies, operating six working subcommittees to address urgent tasks such as system improvement and expenditure restructuring measures. Through the 1st plenary meeting of the Policy Council, the Ministry shared the major achievements of the first half of the year pursued by each working subcommittee and discussed plans for the second half.

First, the Project System Improvement Subcommittee prepared the ‘ICT Non-R&D Project System Improvement Plan’ through the activities of the ‘ICT Fund Project System Improvement Team’ as a follow-up to last year’s National Assembly audit. Accordingly, the regulations related to ICT fund projects were comprehensively revised (1 abolished, 2 amended), and seven new supplementary guidelines were established to organize the ICT fund project-related systems. Efforts were made to ensure field adaptation by holding explanatory sessions on the revamped system. In the second half of the year, the subcommittee plans to continuously improve related systems by revising regulations independently operated by ICT project agencies and reflecting field demands.

The New Project Discovery Subcommittee operated the ‘Public Participation Budget System,’ reviewing ideas proposed by the general public and experts. In the second half, it plans to expand public participation by establishing a permanent submission channel through the reorganization of the Project Management System (PMS), allowing the general public to propose creative ideas in the ICT field anytime and anywhere in real time.

Additionally, the Project Performance Promotion Subcommittee opened an online communication channel between the public and ICT project agencies by discovering excellent success stories and producing and distributing promotional videos to share and spread citizen-experienced success stories held by ICT project agencies. In the second half, it plans to diversify performance-sharing channels such as SNS to expand contact points with the general public and strengthen communication with citizens based on feedback through online and offline communication channels.

The Project Restructuring Subcommittee established expenditure restructuring criteria for ‘long-term projects over 10 years,’ ‘projects with poor financial execution,’ ‘projects with insufficient government evaluation,’ and ‘projects pointed out by external bodies such as the National Assembly’ among ICT fund projects, applying these criteria in next year’s budget formulation. In the second half, it plans to review mid- to long-term innovation measures such as efficient promotion of fund projects considering the ICT fund’s financial conditions.

Moreover, the Regional Hub ICT Infrastructure Sharing Subcommittee surveyed regional hub ICT infrastructures operated by ICT project agencies. Based on the survey results, in the second half, it plans to prepare and distribute the ‘Regional Hub ICT Infrastructure Handbook’ by region to enable ICT-related companies and citizens to freely use the infrastructure and establish ‘ICT Infrastructure Joint Utilization Plans.’

Lastly, the Electronic Data Sharing Subcommittee addressed the inconvenience of project executing agencies entering agreement and project expenditure details separately into each ICT project agency’s independently operated project management system. To enhance the efficiency of ICT fund project management, it prepared electronic data sharing measures and conducted a pilot linkage project. In the second half, it plans to continue pursuing electronic data sharing measures, including module development for additional system linkage among ICT project agencies and consultations on information and personal data processing for linkage targets.

Seungwon Lee, Director of the Information and Communication Industry Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, emphasized, “Through the ICT Budget Policy Council, we will strengthen communication among ICT project agencies to support the public’s experience of the fund project’s achievements and intensify efforts to improve related systems so that difficulties and problems occurring at project sites are promptly resolved.”