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| Seok Jae-bum, president of the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), speaks during a press conference in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Tuesday. / Courtesy of IITP |
"In accordance with the government's innovative growth policy, we are launching various kinds of human resource training programs such as funding universities that operate colleges for AI technology, and operating an Innovation Academy to train talented individuals in software engineering," Seok Jae-bum, president of the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation (IITP), said during a press conference in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul.
Innovative growth is one of the Moon Jae-in administration's key economic goals in making structural reform.
The IITP, a subsidiary agency of the National Research Foundation of Korea, was established in 2014 to establish strategies for mid- and long-term ICT research and development technologies.
The agency's annual budget in 2019 is 1.05 trillion won ($929 million), a 21.8 billion won increase from the previous year. The IITP said this was in line with the government's strategy to invest more in the ICT sector.
"It has been five years since the establishment of this agency. We have announced several innovative strategies in ICT fields together with the Ministry of Science and ICT since 2018 and we will be actively involved in supporting these programs," Seok said.
As part of its human resource nurturing plan, the IITP will choose three universities that plan to launch colleges for AI technology. The IITP will give each of them 1 billion won in funding.
Hong Sung-pyo, vice president and head of the human resources development division of the IITP, said nurturing AI talent by funding universities was essential to develop the country's AI technology.
"As we have seen in the case of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which announced that it would set up a college for AI, top schools in advanced countries are rushing to set up AI technology-specialized institutes to cultivate related talent," Hong said. "As many university labs are investing in AI technology, the IITP's funding program will be helpful for them."
The agency also plans to launch the Innovation Academy, designed to nurture talent in software engineering, with an investment of 180.6 billion won. The academy will offer two-year non-degree courses.
To create more jobs, the IITP will also invest 28 billion won in private companies, universities and non-profit organizations that will operate job training programs in eight sectors including AI, cloud computing, big data, blockchain, autonomous vehicle and smart factory technologies.
The agency expects the program will produce 5,400 talented individuals in the eight sectors by 2021 and half of them will be able to work in related positions.
