Korea aims to occupy 20 percent of the global RFID/USN market share by 2018, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy commented.
"To this end, the government will actively foster 50 RFID/USN-specialized companies, which will create a total of 12,000 jobs by 2018," a ministry spokesman said.
"On a step-by-step basis, Korea plans to expand its global RFID/USN market share from 4.2 percent in 2009 to 6 percent in 2010, 10 percent in 2012, and further to 20 percent in 2018," he said.
Along with this, the number of jobs to be created in the RFID/USN industry will steadily rise from 2,636 in 2009 to 3,400 in 2010, 5,500 in 2012, and again to 12,000 in 2018, said the ministry official. This is due to a concrete strategy to propel the RFID/USN new growth engine, allowing the government actively foster RFID/USN-specialized companies armed with high technology competitiveness. For instance, it spent 32.7 billion won in 2010 to support market-creative technology development in the field.
The government's supports will be focused on RFID introduction technology of medical supplies, liquor and clothing, mobile RFID, and global SCM. In the meantime, the ministry will actively support such fields with great market demand as smart energy, smart social security, smart environment and mobile USN.
"We will gradually shift the focus of the technology development assistance system from research centers and universities to RFID/USN-specialized companies," he said.
"In particular, we will make a strong push for technology development aimed at commercialization and practical use in the fields of mobile RFID technology, RFID tags to prevent forgery of Western liquor, RFID security technology and recognition technology of individual products," said the spokesman.
He added that the government will operate a customer-oriented operation committee from the commercialization stage of technology development to expand relevant technology transfer and strengthen cooperation in the demand sector.
Task pool system and tailor-made R&D planning tasks
As a means of fostering RFID/USN-specialized companies, the ministry will also build a task pool system and suggest tailor-made R&D planning tasks through a comprehensive analysis, he said.
"Based on the government's policy needs including a new growth engine development strategy and technology roadmap, and the needs from industrial, academic and research fields, we will build a task pool system," said the spokesman.
"Along with this, we will strengthen the global test and certification function of the RFID/USN center for commercialization of technology development and enhancement of confidence and global competitive power," he noted.
The ministry is moving to enact domestic standards based on the commercialization of technology development tasks and take an initiative in deciding or developing global standards and patents in such future-oriented fields as mobile RFID, next-generation sensor network.
For instance, it completed an enactment of national standards for 58 technologies by 2008 and plans to expand the enactment for an additional 40 technologies by 2012. By 2012, it is also planning to propel an enactment of global standards for 10 technologies.
Creation of domestic and foreign market demands
Noting that the ministry is exerting doubled efforts to create sustainable RFID/USN market demands, the spokesman said, "We will actively support the seamless process which ranges from production to retail for clothing, medical supplies and other items necessary for introduction of RFID technology."
In particular, the ministry's efforts to create large-scale RFID/USN demands will be focused on medical supplies, clothing and liquor, he said, adding that tag demands by 2010 will reach 60 million for medical supplies, 12 million for liquor and 9 million for clothing.
"The liquor distribution information system, now being applied only to the Seoul region, will be expanded to other metropolitan cities across the country by 2011 and further throughout the country by 2012," he explained.
"In cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Science & Technology, and Korea Food & Drug Administration, we are actively pushing ahead with the convergence of pharmaceuticals and IT, including attachment of RFID tags to medical supplies," he commented.
In line with this, the spokesman said the ministry would introduce such IT technologies as ERP and RFID to the manufacturing process of medicine in order to enhance quality and strengthen safety management.
"Through the development of the RFID-based e-Pedigree model, the ministry plans to sharply reduce distribution, return and recalls of forgery medical supplies and expand its R&D investment capacity," he said.
In a separate move, the ministry plans to establish an RFID/USN total solution leasing company, which offers equipment leasing, solution, maintenance and management services.
"At the same time, the ministry is pushing ahead with expanding the B2C new business market through the commercialization of mobile RFID. As an initial step, smartphones with a built-in RFID reader, USIM chip and remote RFID reader will be developed and a pilot test will be applied to air logistics," said the spokesman.
To preoccupy the global RFID/USN market, the ministry will push for a package-type global marketing deal which includes hardware and software services, through mobile RFID integration solution development in liquor, medicine and clothing sectors, he said.
"To speed up the nation's advancement in the overseas RFID/USN market, it plans to establish the RFID/USN overseas advancement council with KOTRA. KOTRA will provide information analysis services and marketing assistance through its global networks," said the spokesman.
"By making the best use of RFID technology, the ministry plans to improve the nation's export & import logistics system and lead the global u-SCM market in the future," he added.
