The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on June 23 that it would invest 17.9 billion won next year and 200 billion won until 2025 to lead global 6G commercialization, which is anticipated in 2028 to 2030.
These days, the United States and China are trying to outrun each other in the industry by increasing their investments. The United States is strengthening its cooperation with allies, including South Korea, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) leading long-term R&D. China set up an organization in charge of 6G R&D in 2019. In Japan, a similar consortium was set up last year.
South Korea, which launched the world’s first commercial 5G services, is expected to repeat its success in the field of 6G commercialization. This is because it currently has two chairs in the International Telecommunication Union working on 6G standardization.
In March this year, Samsung Research senior engineer Choi Hyung-jin became the chair of the 6G Vision Group of the ITU. Two months later, Samsung Research master engineer Kim Youn-sun became the chair of the 3GPP RAN1 of the ITU.
The ministry recently decided to cooperate with the Korean Intellectual Property Office in order to increase the number of South Korea’s standard essential patents in the 6G industry.
In addition, the ministry will run 6G R&D centers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Sungkyunkwan University and Korea University.
Originally published at Business korea