May 20, 2nd National Bio Committee Meeting Held
"All Ministries Must Pool Their Capabilities to Compete with Leading Global Countries"
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lee Jooho, who is serving as Acting President, stated, "We must pool the capabilities of all ministries to compete with the world's leading countries that are strategizing core bio technologies."
On May 20, at the '2nd National Bio Committee Meeting' held in the National Bio Committee conference room, Acting President Lee emphasized the need for an all-government effort, noting that "we are entering a new paradigm shift centered on bio technology."
This meeting was convened as part of the implementation of the 'Korea Bio Transformation Strategy' announced in January, with the National Bio Committee discussing directions for bio innovation to drive future growth engines.
In January, the government launched the National Bio Committee as a central body to lead Korea's bio sector and announced the Korea Bio Transformation Strategy as a national strategy for becoming a global bio powerhouse. Since then, the committee has established and operated three subcommittees to enhance expertise in each field, and has held a 'Bio Business Council' to listen to voices from the field. Through these efforts, the public and private sectors have jointly discussed policy tasks to strengthen the nation's bio capabilities.
The 2nd meeting held on this day was attended by Acting President Lee, as well as government and private sector committee members and civilian experts.
The meeting began with a presentation by Lee Myunghwa, Director of the Global Strategy Office at the Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), a civilian expert, on "Global Bio Policy Trends and Our Response Direction." Next, Ryu Sungho, a private sector committee member of the National Bio Committee and professor at Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, presented an agenda on "Key Areas and Directions for Government Bio R&D." This was followed by a discussion among attendees on proposals for establishing and supporting a bio regulatory innovation system.
Acting President Lee stated, "We must accelerate technological innovation and strive to produce R&D outcomes through an integrated, all-government bio R&D strategy," and added, "I also urge you to actively pursue regulatory innovation to strengthen the driving force for innovation in the bio sector."
He further emphasized, "Consistency and sustainability in policy support are crucial to securing competitiveness in the technological hegemony race. Ministries, as well as the industrial, academic, research, and medical sectors, must pool their wisdom to strengthen close connections and cooperation between the bio sector and other fields."
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