In the last 50 years, the Korean economy has been centered on the growth of large corporations. As its policies were mostly growth-oriented, the economy has seen significant advancement. However, as the welfare growth could not keep up with the economy, the problem of unemployment remained. For instance, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reports that currently Korea is ranked 23rd out of 36 countries in terms of the employment rate index. Therefore, in order to confront this issue and to open a new era of creative economy for the Republic of Korea, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) was founded this year by the government under President Geun-hye Park.

The main objective of MSIP is to create new added value, new jobs, and new growth engines that are necessary for the nation’s sustained growth. In order to fulfill its objectives, MSIP covers a wide range of areas. The final goal is to establish an inclusive creative economy where the people, youth, state-funded research institutes, government, large companies, and venture and small-to-medium businesses can work in symbiosis. In this creative economy, people are the innovators in everyday life who provide creative ideas. These ideas, when developed into intellectual properties, are commercialized by technology. The youths are the talents who have challenging and entrepreneurial spirits and no fear of failure. They are responsible for taking on challenges and driving the nation’s economic growth. The state-funded research institutes are the locomotives of the economy. They develop the core technologies necessary for upcoming developments and advancements. The role of the government can be classified as the supporter who encourages the collaboration between governmental departments and market players. The large companies are the leaders of the economy that support small-to-medium businesses and invest in various technological projects. The most important component of the symbiosis are the venture and small-to-medium businesses. They compete with fairly large companies and make inroads into the global market to drive the nation’s economic growth and to create more high-quality jobs.

To achieve the aforementioned creative economy, MSIP has numerous strategies. First of all, it is to establish a creative economic ecosystem. This is done by encouraging the increase in the number of creative ideas and talents. Also, the creative ideas should undergo technical commercialization, and startups should be stimulated. Other tasks include: the building of science, technology, and IT-based new industries; strengthening the competitiveness of the existing industries; cultivating internet-based industries; creating new demand for ICT; fostering the local industries; developing the area of intellectual property creation, protection, and utilization.

The second strategy is to strengthen the nation’s capabilities in research and development (R&D) and innovation. This strategy is more focused on changing the fundamental factors of the technological part of society: changing the paradigm of science and technology policy; building a R&D planning, management, and evaluation system; achieving independence in or creating new industries relating to technology; fostering of state-funded research institutes; developing the society into one where the scientists can perform to their maximum capabilities.

The third strategy is to develop the software and content industries. This task concentrates on structuring the core of the Korean economy: laying cornerstones for an education infrastructure that aims to enable all people around the world to develop and use software; promoting Korean style contents around the world; advancing broadcasting and smart media industries; and improving the network infrastructure.

The fourth strategy is international cooperation and globalization: implementing trans-governmental efforts for strategic international cooperation in the science and technology and ICT sector, supporting small-to-medium venture businesses in entering foreign markets, and turning the international science business belt to a global basic research key post.

Finally, it is necessary to pursue science, technology, and information and communications technology (ICT) for the sake of the people. These include developing technology that can resolve social issues, reducing communication costs, strengthening healthy cyber security, and using networks for the common welfare.