Bae Kyung-hoon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT, attended the G20 Innovation Ministerial Meeting held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the United States on September 1 as the head of the Korean delegation. The meeting discussed full-cycle innovation measures spanning the research and development, utilization, and diffusion of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI).
 [코리안투데이] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon attending the G20 Innovation Ministerial Meeting © 장형임 기자 |
The Ministry of Science and ICT (led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon) announced that Deputy PM Bae attended the G20 Innovation Ministerial Meeting held in Chapel Hill, United States, on September 1 as head of the delegation.
The G20 is a consultative body in which the world’s major economies discuss ways to cooperate on international economic issues, and the presiding country holds ministerial meetings by field ahead of the leaders’ summit. Until last year, a ‘Research and Innovation Ministerial Meeting’ and a ‘Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting’ were held separately, but the United States, this year’s chair, merged the two into the ‘G20 Innovation Ministerial Meeting’ to ensure that emerging technologies such as AI lead to real economic growth and industrial innovation. The meeting was attended by heads of delegation and high-level officials at the ministerial and vice-ministerial level from a total of 21 countries, including 20 member states such as the United States, Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, along with invited guest country Poland.
The morning session, under the theme of an ‘innovation-friendly policy framework,’ addressed policy directions to promote full-cycle innovation extending from the R&D of emerging technologies to demonstration, commercialization, and market diffusion. Countries shared their policy experiences in connecting R&D outcomes to actual innovation and growth, including investment in basic research, public-private cooperation, the promotion of technology commercialization, and the creation of a flexible regulatory environment. The afternoon session, under the themes of ‘technology for opportunity and prosperity’ and ‘nurturing technology talent,’ discussed the adoption and diffusion of AI in the public sector, the cultivation of practical technology talent, and measures to strengthen AI capabilities among the entire population.
In his remarks as head of delegation, Deputy PM Bae introduced Korea’s policy direction and experience in fostering AI as a key driver of national innovation and economic growth. In the morning session, he presented examples of expanding challenging R&D, including the expansion of basic research investment, the abolition of the preliminary feasibility study system for R&D, the streamlining of research administration, the SEED project that identifies future innovative technologies, and the K-Moonshot project that applies AI to science and technology research. He went on to describe efforts to strengthen the technology commercialization ecosystem through NEST, a consultative body supporting deep-tech commercialization, and to create an innovation-friendly environment using regulatory sandboxes.
In the afternoon session, he shared the progress of the ‘AI for All project,’ which supports every citizen in easily using AI with the goal of becoming one of the world’s top three AI powers, and the ‘government-wide AX project’ to lead public-sector innovation. He also noted that Korea is devoting its full efforts to three mega-projects—semiconductors, AI data centers, and physical AI—and introduced the enactment of the ‘AI Framework Act’ and ‘AI ethics principles’ for a safe and trustworthy AI environment, along with a nationwide AI capability-building program and measures to secure skilled technology talent.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Deputy PM Bae held a bilateral meeting with Michael Kratsios, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) of chair country the United States, to discuss major issues and cooperation measures in the fields of science, technology, and information and communications technology (ICT), including AI. The outcomes of this ministerial meeting are to be reflected in the G20 Innovation Ministerial Statement.
Deputy PM Bae said, ‘Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, are now becoming a key driver that goes beyond technology within the laboratory to transform national growth, industrial competitiveness, and the lives of the people.’ He added, ‘Based on bold R&D, talent development, and the institutions and infrastructure that support innovation, the Republic of Korea will accelerate AI innovation while actively sharing our experience with G20 member states, and will cooperate with the international community so that science and technology innovation can lead to the world’s sustained growth and prosperity.’
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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