Ignacy Giżyński
Have you heard that the South Korean government is allocating about 40 billion won (approximately 30 million dollars) to continue being a world leader in display production? This is all to maintain an edge over China, which has been rapidly catching up in recent years and is increasingly competing boldly with giants like LG and Samsung.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) wants to support several research projects related to next-generation displays – mainly OLED and so-called inorganic light-emitting displays. It may sound complicated, but in practice, it is about making televisions, monitors, and smartphones have even better image quality, be more energy-efficient, and more durable.
Entities that qualify for the program will receive significant funding – large companies can expect up to half of their costs to be reimbursed, while smaller enterprises may receive an even higher percentage. Universities and research institutes, on the other hand, are set to receive one hundred percent support.
Importantly, if these funds succeed in creating a groundbreaking technology that later achieves commercial success, companies will have to return a portion of their profits to the state in the form of royalties. This way, everyone – both the creators of the innovations and the government – is supposed to 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 independent from foreign giants, especially in the areas of augmented reality (XR) or the metaverse. We can therefore expect even more interesting devices and groundbreaking solutions to hit the market in the next few years – particularly as Chinese competition is not resting and is accelerating its efforts year by year.
