The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's Korea Agency for Technology and Standards will invest 45.9 billion won this year to secure leadership in international standards in advanced industries. The agency said on Tuesday it would announce 82 new projects for the 2026 "National Standard Technology Capability Enhancement Programme". The programme is a flagship standard R&D project that develops and proposes Korean technologies as international and national standards and supports standardisation activities. This year's budget increased by 3.4 billion won from a year earlier.

The agency will focus 8.6 billion won on new projects in 15 advanced industry fields, including the M.AX sectors such as AI, future cars and robots. The 15 fields are AI, semiconductors, displays, secondary batteries, future cars, future ships, robots, advanced manufacturing, quantum, core materials, nuclear power, clean energy such as hydrogen, solar and wind power, advanced bio, aerospace and the metaverse.

From this year, it expanded support to cover de facto standards as well as international standards. The areas include semiconductors and displays, where technological change is rapid and product and component specifications are determined. De facto standards refer to standards formed naturally in the market rather than by formal standard-setting bodies.

If Korean technology is reflected in international standards, it is expected to lead to stronger export competitiveness across domestic industry. The plan is to contribute to securing an edge in global technology leadership for Korean companies by expanding pre-emptive support in de facto standards areas where technological change is rapid.

The application period for the new projects runs from Wednesday to 6 p.m. on March 27. Details can be found on the agency's website and the Integrated Research Support System website.

Kim Dae-ja (김대자), head of the agency, said, "Standards are a strategy that establishes the direction and benchmarks for future technologies and accelerates market entry." He said, "To lead advanced industries, we will continue to expand development of standards that our companies need."