The Korean government plans to nurture the local robotics industry to become a world leader by 2018.
The plan concentrates on the development of service robots for tasks like cleaning, household chores and language instruction.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy announced the robotics industry development plan on December 9.
The ministry aims to narrow the gap between Korea and other leading countries in the robotics industry and to raise Korea’s international market share to 20 percent by 2018. Korea currently has a ten percent share of the market.
Though the industry is currently thought to be worth $9.4 billion worldwide, it is expected to grow to be worth $100 billion by 2018.
The ministry aims to nurture the robotics industry to become as important to Korea as the automobile and semiconductor industries by supporting overseas penetration, improving international competitiveness and securing growth potential.
The ministry will also ask related sectors to carry out test projects for service robots, and inject 30 billion won into related projects. Additionally, it will support standardization and encourage research and development projects with countries like the United States and Japan.
The ministry will designate special high schools and strengthen cooperation between the industrial and academic spheres by building robotics research centers in universities, By building related education programs in order to meet the needs of the small and medium-sized enterprises in the industry, the ministry hopes to improve the industry as a whole.
It will also establish a special zone to promote the robotics industry and plans to hold contests in robot design.
By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
