Ignacy Giżyński
Have you heard that the South Korean government is allocating approximately 40 billion won (about 30 million dollars) to continue being a world leader in display production? All to maintain an advantage over China, which has been rapidly catching up in recent years and is increasingly boldly competing with giants like LG and Samsung.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) wants to support several research projects related to next-generation screens – mainly OLED and so-called inorganic light-emitting displays. It may sound complicated, but in practice, it is about ensuring that televisions, monitors, and smartphones have even better image quality, are more energy-efficient, and are more durable.
Entities that are qualified for the programme will receive substantial funding – large companies can expect up to half of their costs reimbursed, while smaller enterprises can anticipate an even higher percentage. Universities and research institutes, on the other hand, are set to receive one hundred percent support.
Importantly, if this money enables the creation of a breakthrough technology that later achieves commercial success, companies will have to return part of their profits to the state in the form of royalties. In this way, everyone – both the creators of the innovations and the government – will benefit from the further development of the display industry.
South Korea hopes that such actions will help maintain its leading position in the market, while also allowing it to become less dependent on foreign giants, especially in the areas of extended reality (XR) or the metaverse. We can therefore expect even more interesting devices and groundbreaking solutions to hit the market in the coming years – particularly as Chinese competition is not resting and is accelerating its activities year by year.
