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Ministry contest to fund bio-industry R&D
  • By Lee Han-soo
  • Published 2018.01.09 11:15
  • Updated 2018.01.09 11:15
  • comments 0

The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) said Monday that it would hold its first contest to fund research and development (R&D) into future promising bio-industries.

The project named “Korea Bio Grand Challenge” will receive 40.5 billion won ($37.9 million) from the government budget for the next nine years. This year, the ministry plans to select nine projects in three fields -- genome editing, synthetic biology, and useful microorganisms -- and fund 4.5 billion won.

The ministry plans to select three research teams per field and introduce a competitive research system where it will eliminate a group every three years until only one remain. Such procedure is expected to raise competition among the research groups as the funds will increase funding with each stage of elimination.

However, as the contest aims to cultivate young researchers, the selection evaluation process has shifted from the previous elimination-oriented pattern to encouraging senior researchers to help their younger counterparts.

The ministry plans to announce the results of the contest on Feb. 5.

The announcement of the contest comes amid a fierce competition among major countries to preoccupy the future promising bio-industry.

For genetic scissors, Japan plans to invest about 90 billion won by 2020, while Novartis, a global pharmaceutical company, is spending 16 billion won on related sectors, public and private.

Regarding synthetic biology, the U.S. alone has invested more than 660 billion won in investment funds for related startup companies in 2015. The U.S. government announced the National Microbial Communities Plan in 2016 and invested an additional 150 billion won last year.

The future growth of the genetic scissors market is expected to grow to 2.5 trillion won, while the microorganisms market is estimated to increase to 460 trillion won, by 2022.

corea022@docdocdoc.co.kr

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