Seoul LG Science Park, the largest research and development complex in Korea owned by a single enterprise, opened on April 20 in the Magok Industrial Zone in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, during an opening event held by LG Group. The Park will engage in ‘open innovation,’ convergence-based research for LG Group, which also plans to conduct joint R&D projects with SMEs and venture companies, foreign companies, universities and other research labs.
President Moon Jae-in attended the ceremony, and stated, “The government will set up an innovative growth ecosystem to offer comprehensive assistance to research and business, and decrease regulations to promote new technologies and products. It will introduce a ‘regulatory sandbox’ to gear up pilot projects and expand its support for technology development and start-ups.”
President Moon asked the participants to make serious efforts to create better jobs and researchers, saying “The Park is expected to create 190,000 jobs and produce KRW 30 trillion in value every year with investment in R&D totaling KRW 4.6 trillion annually.” He added that the government would expand its basic research budget to KRW 2.5 trillion, twice the current level, within his term and reorganize its support system to focus on researchers.
Koo Bon-Joon, Vice Chairman of LG, said in his welcoming speech, “The greatest assets Korea possesses are its people and technology, and the business world’s fundamental approach to the 4th Industrial Revolution is to increase talent and invest in R&D. LG Science Park is the right place to realize this goal.” He also stated, “This will be the center of an open innovation ecosystem, building up business that leads to innovative growth, and creation of jobs.”