The Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety will push ahead in earnest with a cross-ministry advanced medical device R&D programme through a call for new projects for the first year of 2026 and a project briefing session, they said on Tuesday.

The programme will run for 7 years from 2026 to 2032 and invest a total of 940.8 billion won, including 838.3 billion won from the state budget and 102.5 billion won in private funding. It aims to develop global flagship medical devices that are the first in the world or at the highest level, and to localise production of essential medical devices. It supports the full cycle of medical device R&D from basic and fundamental research to commercialisation, clinical trials and approvals.

In its first year this year, it will invest 59.325 billion won in state funding to support 106 new projects. The new projects specified research goals based on the results of planning for a preliminary feasibility study for a national R&D programme that passed in August 2025.

In the "Global flagship medical devices" category, it will select 5 projects and provide 13.425 billion won this year. The goals are to develop a self-steering flexible endoscope, an implantable brain-AI-robot real-time interlocking system, a whole-body digital PET system, digital PCR, and a radiotherapy cancer treatment device.

In the "Core technology and product development for medical devices" category, it will provide 35.55 billion won this year to a total of 68 projects. It will pursue localisation of essential medical devices, including software medical devices and medical robots, as well as a diagnostic system for degenerative brain diseases, a collaborative system for digital surgical assistant robots and ventilators for newborns and children.

In the "Strengthening capabilities for entry into clinical settings" category, it plans to select 33 projects and provide 10.35 billion won, centred on support for domestic and overseas clinical trials, development of tailored regulatory science evaluation technologies and support for international standards.

The call for new projects runs through March 9. Details can be checked via the cross-ministry integrated research support system (IRIS) and the website of the cross-ministry medical device R&D programme group. The government will hold a joint briefing session with relevant ministries on Thursday at L Tower in Seoul's Seocho district for researchers from industry, academia, research institutes and hospitals.

The government said it plans to focus support on the development of advanced medical devices based on close cross-ministry cooperation and continued communication with the research field. It said it will strengthen competitiveness in the global medical device market and foster the medical device industry as a new national growth engine.