Five Ministries of S. Korean Gov. Allocate 2.1 Trillion KRW (1.6 Billion USD) for Health and Medical R&D Budget

2025-01-29

Five ministries of the South Korean government including the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency have allocated a total of 2.1047 trillion KRW (1.619 billion USD) for key health and medical research and development (R&D) in 2025. This accounts for approximately 8.5% of the total government R&D budget of 24.8 trillion KRW (19.077 billion USD), representing a 14.9% increase compared to the previous year.

The government's health and medical R&D will focus on five key areas, supporting a total of 141 projects, including 33 new projects (with a budget of 154.5 billion KRW, 105.10 million USD) and 108 ongoing projects (with a budget of 1.9502 trillion KRW, 1.327 billion USD): ▲Health and Medical Technologies to Protect People's Lives and Health, ▲Fostering New Industries to Become a Global Biohealth Powerhouse, ▲An R&D Ecosystem that Promotes Innovation, ▲Future Medicine Led by Data and AI, ▲Challenge and Innovation for Solving National Challenges

By specific category, investments are as follows: 317.9 billion KRW (216.26 million USD) for Health and Medical Technologies to Protect People's Lives and Health; 994.7 billion KRW (676.67 million USD) for Fostering New Industries to Become a Global Biohealth Powerhouse; 230.2 billion KRW (156.6 million USD)for Future Medicine Led by Data and AI; 76 billion KRW (51.7 million USD) for Challenge and Innovation for Solving National Challenges; and 485.9 billion KRW (330.54 million USD) for the R&D Ecosystem that Promotes Innovation.

Myung-Chan Cho, Co-Chair of the Health and Medical Technology Policy Deliberation Committee, stated, "With rapid recent innovations in health and medical technology, hopes are growing that long-held human aspirations, such as overcoming intractable diseases, can be realized. It is important for the government to cooperate to ensure that R&D results do not simply remain as technical achievements but are also successfully commercialized.

Source: http://www.hitnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=60230