Sangwook Park, Chief of Science and Technology, "Connecting Basic Research, Clinical, and Commercialization"
The National Bio Committee, which oversees and coordinates domestic bio policies, will be launched next month. President Yoon Seok-yeol will serve as the chairman, and Lee Sang-yeop, Vice President of KAIST, has been appointed as the vice chairman.
Park Sang-wook, Senior Secretary for Science and Technology at the Presidential Office, briefed at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 3rd, stating, "Major advanced countries are preparing national strategies for the transition to a bio-economy and continuously expanding research and development (R&D) investments for bio-technology innovation," adding, "Korea also announced the Advanced Bio Initiative in April this year and swiftly organized related governance, leading to the launch of the National Bio Committee."
Park said, "The presidential decree for establishing the National Bio Committee passed the Cabinet meeting last Tuesday," and added, "The bio sector is already a game-changing technology transforming industries such as healthcare, agriculture and food, energy and environment, and materials, with such a significant ripple effect that it is also attracting attention from a security perspective."
"Organic Governance in the Bio Sector"
In particular, Park noted, "Until now, the bio sector has been criticized for fragmented governance because the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy each handled policies and R&D separately," and expressed hope that "through the National Bio Committee, the entire value chain from basic research to clinical trials and commercialization can be organically connected."
The committee will consist of about 20 private members with extensive expertise and experience across all fields of red, green, and white bio. Park explained, "Bio experts such as Kim Bit-nae-ri, Director of the Institute for Basic Science, Ko Han-seung, President of Samsung Bioepis, and Kim Young-tae, Director of Seoul National University Hospital, are expected to participate as members."
The committee is expected to be composed of three subcommittees and four special committees, among which the Digital Bio Special Committee will focus on fostering bio-IT convergence technologies utilizing bio-health data and artificial intelligence technologies. Similar to the National AI Committee, a support team led by the Advanced Bio Secretary will be separately established to assist the committee’s activities.
"Quantum Strategy Committee to Launch Within the Year"
Park said, "The National Bio Committee is the third strategic technology committee chaired by the president, following the National Space Committee launched with the opening of the Space Agency in May and the National AI Committee launched in September," adding, "The Quantum Strategy Committee, for the remaining one of the three game-changing technologies, quantum science and technology, is scheduled to be launched within this year." The Quantum Strategy Committee will be established as a statutory committee chaired by the Prime Minister under the 'Quantum Science and Technology and Quantum Industry Promotion Act,' which came into effect on the 1st.
Park emphasized, "We will create a strong linkage system among the National Science and Technology Advisory Council, the deliberation committee, and the newly established strategic technology committees, which are the highest-level bodies for science and technology policy in Korea," and added, "By operating this linkage structure, the planning and budget review of R&D projects can be effectively conducted year-round, ensuring that R&D budgets are timely and adequately supported."
He continued, "Through this system improvement, we will maintain the roles and authorities of each ministry, including the Science and Technology Innovation Headquarters, and realize breaking down inter-ministerial barriers through linkage and collaboration without government organizational restructuring," and added, "We will actively consider expanding the inter-committee linkage model to the '2050 Carbon Neutral Green Growth Committee' in the future and applying it to carbon-neutral R&D."
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