In 2014 The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) will a role out a raft of mid-to long-term software projects to bolster a number of domestic strategic industries. This will be achieved by developing 100 key software platforms for SMEs and foster high-quality human resources by organizing various educational programs.

While it is certainly a positive step that the government is supporting these key industries, and is dedicated to bolstering innovation in the software industry in Korea, it remains to be seen how much value the new policies will deliver. We have seen both success and failure in recent government initiatives, with funds being released for innovation projects, coupled with invasive micro-management of projects. It is also a concern that there has been recent displeasure that the government has reneged on a number of election promises, less than a year after the new administration came to power.

MOTIE announced the recent plans, which are part of a wider strategy to promote innovation in software development which is being executed under the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.

If successful, the plans aim to promote software integration for a number of 'convergence products', such as autonomous vehicles, intelligent ships, wearable smart devices, from the six key strategic industries. The strategy also hopes to accelerate technology commercialization by creating stronger linkages between the requirements for new tech by large corporations (the clients) and the SMEs (the suppliers) that bring these technologies to production. The project will be entitled ‘Embedded – 100’. One worrying clause is that ownership of the intellectual properties developed will be joint owned by the SMEs that develop them, and the government (MOTIE). This is a worrying trend that demonstrates the government's push to become more involved in tech innovation.

The large-scale initiatives also contain other elements, such as hardware and software training courses at the country’s leading engineering colleges and a ‘private – public cooperation software academy’ which aims to up-skill middle managers in small and medium-scale companies.

Original post on ETNews

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