The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided the final winners of its "Regulatory Reform Idea Contest in the Radio Wave Sector," aimed at easing difficulties the public and industry feel in the field.

The contest ran from March 17 to April 7. A total of 330 proposals were submitted amid strong interest in fostering new industries in the radio wave sector and easing inconveniences.

The ministry conducted an initial preliminary review of the submissions and selected those to be judged. An evaluation panel made up of government and private-sector experts then assessed overall impact, feasibility and innovativeness, and selected 5 winning proposals.

The top prize went to "Institutional improvements to operate project-based experimental stations and commercialisation test stations." Excellence awards went to ideas including "Allowing outdoor use of collision-avoidance radar for deploying physical artificial intelligence (AI) in industrial sites" and "Preparing guidelines for using licence-free devices to promote demonstrations of new services."

Encouragement awards went to "Simplifying certificate verification procedures for finished products equipped with KC-certified modules" and "Using new Bluetooth technology to enable direct reception on personal receivers for public information broadcasts."

The ministry will conduct follow-up reviews so the ideas identified this time lead to practical institutional improvements and support for demonstration projects. It will also prepare "radio wave regulatory reform measures based on public participation" that reflect voices from the field.

Lee Hyun-ho (이현호), director-general of the Radio Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "We will actively review the valuable opinions proposed in the future process of radio administration and policy formulation."