The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Industrial Technology Association on Tuesday announced the selection plan for the 75th Korea Engineer Award.

The Korea Engineer Award is a programme that selects engineers who have made major contributions in technical fields and presents them with a deputy prime minister's award (the science minister's award) and 5 million won in prize money.

The ministry and the association revamped the existing operating method starting with this year's selection-plan announcement. They created new tracks that allow master's and doctoral students in science and engineering graduate schools, researchers at public research institutions (government-funded research institutes and universities, among others), and startup engineers to apply.

They also plan to support the growth and development of early-stage innovative companies and their members by creating and selecting a track aimed at early-stage startup engineers. They will include service-development achievements in eligible application results. They also plan to manage and run mid-sized companies in a separate application category from large companies.

The ministry and the association will post the selection plan on their website until March 18. They will pursue upgrades to the evaluation process, including updating fields and expanding the pool of expert judges, and will review an expansion of prize money in the mid to long term.

Lee Eun-young (이은영), director general for research performance innovation at the ministry, said, "We will do our best so that we can support South Korea's technology-led growth through expanded preferential treatment for technical personnel in industrial sites."