On March 24, Byung-joo Min, the proportional representative of the Saenuri Party, gave a talk, from the perspective of a scientist, on the visions of creative economy and the policies designed to support scientists and engineers. The lecture was held in Room 304 of the Creative Learning Building (E11) from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Female nuclear scientist Byung-joo Min became a lawmaker for the ruling Saenuri Party under the proportional representation system. She served as a senior researcher at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and later joined the 19th National Assembly. She headed the Association of Korean Woman Scientists and Engineers from 2010 to 2011. She was among the 14 women honored by the World Nuclear Association in 2005 for their contributions to nuclear science and technology.
Prior to her talk on the new policies, she briefly introduced the background for the promotion of creative economy, President Geun-hye Park’s trademark growth strategy. This strategy calls for promoting the economy by having ideas as the source of economic growth. The government wishes to create new business opportunities by fusing information and communication technology, culture, and other realms.
Representative Min then introduced several policies made to support future scientists and engineers in building the creative economy. The Creative Economy Town has been established in 2013 to strengthen the support for idea development, ranging from assisting business model development to granting financial aid. The Global Startup Incubating Program supports Internet startup companies to succeed in the global market with the help from the renowned accelerator in Silicon Valley, Plug & Play Techcenter.
Representative Min also emphasized the importance of industry–university collaborations.She shared her plans to nurture universities that can reflect the demand of industries and foster creative students with interdisciplinary minds. With the government’s support, four science and engineering universities, including KAIST, established a joint technology holdings company in order to commercialize the universities’ research achievements and build the platform for professional caring, merger and acquisition, and initial public offering to facilitate the startup of technology ventures.
At the end of the lecture, Representative Min said, “Korea believes in your dream, and we will try our best to support you to achieve your dream. I will try hard to improve the working environment so that it may be a place where young scientists can fully engross themselves in research and studies.”
