Top 100 future technologies selected in South Korea

Visitors to 2017 National Balanced Development EXPO in BEXCO exhibition center, Busan, experience an electric car made by Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology’s 3D printer. / Korea Times file

By Ko Dong-hwan

South Korea’s influential science and technology advisory group has selected top 100 technologies that will play vital roles in the future or have potential to do so.

The National Academy of Engineering of Korea’s selected on Monday technologies expected to be realized and widely spread across South Korea by 2025.

The technologies range from medical technologies customizing surgeons’ ways of treating patients to material engineering breakthroughs, public safety features for traffic, nuclear power and information communication technology, “smart” Internet of Things features and ways to maximize renewable energies.

Compared to the group’s 2013 selection of futuristic technologies, this year’s selections focus less on ways to realize a “sustainable” society, but more on ways to make society “healthier” and “safer.”

“This year’s picks stand out in that different technologies are infused with each other, a symbolic sign of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, like the self-driving vehicle by Samsung Electronics and vessels equipped with advanced ICT by Hyundai Heavy Industry,” the group said.

The group also announced 238 experts charged with responsibilities to realize the selected ways. The personnel come from technology leaders inside and outside the nation, and include Korea Aerospace Research Institute, SK Telecom, Seoul National University, Georgia Institute of Technology, LG Hausys and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology.

The selection group said the selected technologies would be a reference tool for the Moon Jae-in administration when planning research and development projects.