The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) held a launch ceremony for the ‘4 Poles, 3 Special Zones Regional Autonomous R&D Program’ at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) on September 10, announcing that it will begin a new approach to regional R&D in which regions take the lead in planning research and development and innovation actors across each zone carry it out together. This year, 78.9 billion won will be invested across seven regions, with the goal of building science- and technology-based regional growth models for each zone by 2030.
 [코리안투데이] Launch ceremony of the 4 Poles, 3 Special Zones Regional Autonomous R&D Program © 장형임 기자 |
This program is part of the national policy task of ‘enhancing regional innovation capacity through support for regional autonomous R&D,’ and it carries significant meaning as the first step in shifting the existing regional R&D system — organized around individual cities and provinces and led by the central government — toward region-autonomous R&D at the level of the 4-pole, 3-special-zone framework. The ‘four poles’ refer to the Central region (Daejeon, Sejong, Chungbuk and Chungnam), the Honam region (Gwangju and Jeonnam), the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region (Daegu and Gyeongbuk) and the Southeast region (Busan, Ulsan and Gyeongnam), while the ‘three special zones’ refer to the Gangwon, Jeonbuk and Jeju special self-governing provinces.
The launch ceremony was attended by some 100 people, including Koo Hyuk-chae, First Vice Minister of Science and ICT, representatives of the 13 local governments across the four poles and three special zones, the heads of the seven regional project teams, research and development support organizations, and companies and young researchers. The event proceeded with the appointment of project team leaders and the presentation of nameplates, followed by the announcement of 2026 project plans for each region and a regional innovation partnership roundtable.
This program focuses on changing the very way regional R&D is invested, planned and carried out through cooperation. First, large-scale block-funding R&D investment in the regions begins. The ministry plans to invest a total of 78.9 billion won across seven regions this year and to continue expanding the scale of support from 2027 onward. Previously, projects were driven mainly by individual tasks planned by the central government, making it difficult for regions to design investments according to mid- to long-term growth strategies; under this program, however, the necessary R&D will be supported around the growth strategies and key technology fields established by each region.
Second, regions will choose fields where they can excel, based on regional demand. As a result of joint planning in which the ministry, local governments, R&D support organizations, science and technology institutes and government-funded research institutes, universities and companies analyzed industrial and scientific capacity and companies’ technology needs, a total of 18 key technology fields were selected — three each for the four poles and two each for the three special zones — with concrete details worked out down to tasks, budgets, year-by-year targets and commercialization pathways.
Third, the program connects the capabilities of an entire region beyond the city and provincial level. By linking research capacity, industrial infrastructure, demonstration environments and talent that had been scattered across individual regions into a zone-wide framework, it will pursue large-scale, convergent R&D that individual cities and provinces found difficult to undertake alone. Fourth, science and technology institutes and government-funded research institutes will directly participate as anchors of regional growth. KAIST will lead the project team for the Central region, GIST for the Honam region, DGIST for the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region and UNIST for the Southeast region; the KIST Gangneung and Jeonbuk branches will lead the teams for the Gangwon and Jeonbuk special self-governing provinces, and the Jeju Technology Commercialization Division of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology will lead the team for the Jeju special self-governing province. The project teams will connect source technologies, specialized personnel and research facilities with local universities, companies and innovation institutions, and will oversee everything from project planning to task management and the diffusion of outcomes.
The seven regions will move ahead with growth models that draw on each area’s strengths. The Central region will invest a total of 13.1 billion won — including 4.2 billion won for semiconductors, 3.9 billion won for advanced bio and 4 billion won for advanced mobility — to build a ‘super-wide-area deep-tech demonstration ecosystem that opens new global markets for national strategic technologies,’ establishing a 1-Hub, 3-Spoke system that connects Daejeon’s source R&D, Sejong’s policy and demonstration functions, and Chungnam and Chungbuk’s manufacturing and industrialization. The Honam region will invest a total of 13.1 billion won — including 4.6 billion won for semiconductors, 4 billion won for energy and 3.7 billion won for mobility — to create a ‘hub for future advanced industries that links AI, optical semiconductors and future mobility, powered by renewable energy.’ The Daegu-Gyeongbuk region will invest a total of 13.1 billion won — including 4.3 billion won for mobility, 3.7 billion won for robotics and 3.75 billion won for system semiconductors — to build a ‘robot belt connecting mobility, robotics and system semiconductors.’ The Southeast region will invest a total of 13.1 billion won — including 4.33 billion won for shipbuilding AX, 4 billion won for power semiconductors and 4 billion won for advanced aviation propulsion technology — to build a ‘Southeast-style model of global competitive advantage.’
The three special self-governing provinces will also pursue region-specific models. Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province will invest a total of 8.8 billion won — including 5.089 billion won for functional bio-materials and 2.331 billion won for ceramic materials — to build a ‘Gangwon-style corporate growth R&BD system.’ Jeonbuk Special Self-Governing Province will invest a total of 8.8 billion won, including 4.39 billion won for composite-material convergence special-purpose machinery and 3 billion won for microbe-based food and health tech. Jeju Special Self-Governing Province will invest a total of 8.8 billion won — including 5.183 billion won for distributed energy and 3.617 billion won for agriculture-, livestock- and fisheries-based bio — and will establish a KAIST-Jeju National University convergence graduate school to pursue a ‘Jeju-style demonstration-settlement circular innovation model (Jeju-LOOP).’
Koo Hyuk-chae, First Vice Minister of Science and ICT, said, ‘This is the first program to be carried out as region-autonomous R&D at the zone level,’ adding that ‘it holds great significance in that the science and technology institutes and government-funded research institutes that have driven national development are now committing their capabilities in earnest to regional growth, together with local universities, companies and innovation institutions.’ He continued, ‘We will provide active support so that research outcomes lead to corporate growth and good jobs, and so that a virtuous cycle — in which new talent and investment in turn stimulate further research and development — can take root in the regions.’
Observers say this program could become a genuine turning point for balanced regional development, in that it redistributes R&D resources long concentrated in the capital region across the various zones and allows regions to design their own growth paths. The integrated 2026 public notice for the 4-pole, 3-special-zone science and technology innovation support program can be found starting September 11 through the websites of the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Innopolis Foundation, among others.
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