As Daedeok R&D Valley is poised to take off in earnest, the role of the Institute of Information Technology Assessment (IITA) as 'IT strategy planning institution' and 'IT research promotion institution' is being stressed once more. As for the potential for mutual cooperation between Daedeok Valley and IITA, the parties concerned at IITA are firstly targeting the IT field's cooperation network and the IT information distribution system. When asked about with which vision the newly-elected chief director at Daedeok Valley would have to guide this R&D special zone, IITA president Kim Tae-Hyun, said in an interview with the Korea IT Times that the selection of the right sort of executives is more important than appointing over-hastily. He added that given the government's strong will to nurture Daedeok as a worldwide cluster and providing the selection of the chief of director proceeds smoothly, Daedeok Valley has the capacity to develop as a global-level cluster. IITA identifies 'IT new growth engine business planning' as well as 'execution management' as a planning assessment management institution of the IT R&D project. To accomplish per capita GDP of $20,000, set as a national goal of the current Participatory Government, the IITA president explains that essentially the IT field should achieve a minimum portion of $5,000. He said that the Ministry of Information & Communication (MIC) and IITA are proceeding rapidly with the implementation of the IT839 strategy, the selection of nine IT new growth engine fields, as well as R&D and nurturing the IT industry. The IITA's 'IT839 strategy Master Plan' for technology development places priority on the nine new IT growth engines and Broadband Communication Network (BcN). For successful business momentum, the Institute has introduced the Project Manager (PM) system in the interests of R&D responsibility management and these PMs are carrying out tasks such as technology planning as well as technology development management, adjustment of development period and flexible goal establishment, and technology commercialization and manpower nurturing. At the same time, Kim points out that IITA is establishing a clear goal from its R&D planning stage through a goal management-model research management system, known as Planning, Evaluation, Commercialization & Marketing (PECoM) introduction to consider commercialization possibilities and utilization grade in the market. IITA is moreover striving to nurture the special manpower for IT that is demanded by the IT839 strategies by introducing the Supply Chain Model (SCM) with regard to nurturing high quality IT manpower. Relating to further goals as an institution dedicated to nurturing new IT growth engines, Kim mentions that IITA has attracted R&D centers of world leaders in the IT field, such as Franunhofer, IBM, Intel, HP etc., in the interests of nurturing high-grade manpower, while at the same time securing core technology for its IT839 strategy and it plans to continue with its efforts to attract R&D centers of global enterprises. Furthermore, IITA is planning to launch services such as W-CDMA, terrestrial-wave DTV, VoIP by 2006. IITA president Kim says that IITA is going to amplify IT facility investment as well as its market scale to a level of 8 trillion won as well as 53 trillion won respectively by 2007 by introducing new services such as WiBro, DMB, home network, telematics, and RFID utilization service gradually by 2006. Regarding the Institute's development direction as a leading IT technology innovation institution, the president emphasizes that IITA considers it to be the organization's vision to grow both as an IT strategy planning institution and an IT research promotion institution to spearhead Korea's IT R&D's technology innovation. He explains that it is essential for IITA to successfully execute its role as an IT strategy planning institution to predict the future of IT industry and to work out corresponding strategies, considering the rapid growth and transformation of the IT industry. IITA wishes to fulfill its role as a think-tank, identifying new opportunities and alternatives so as to secure continuous superiority in the globally-competitive environment of the IT industry and, the president added. The IITA president has fully committed himself to establishing IITA as a leader to spearhead IT technology innovation in Daedeok Valley by utilizing its customeroriented research management system to maximize performance. In addition, an effective cooperation system will be implemented between research institutions, as well as universities and the industrial sector. 'Provided our Institute can gain recognition as an IT strategy planning institution and as an IT research promotion institution,' the president said 'I expect IITA to carry out its role as an organization leading the IT field's technology innovation and as a core engine to be able to boost our country's IT competitiveness one notch higher.' At present, IITA is carrying out technology development support projects (donation projects and loan projects), IT research groundwork formation support projects, IT manpower nurturing support projects, IT standardization support projects, and facility investment support projects as its core projects. As for IITA's reform tasks to promote innovation, Kim points out that the organization regards as its goal to help its customers create better quality research performance by maximizing the quality level of its research support service. IITA is boosting its innovation activity, placing emphasis on creating innovation success examples which can contribute to maximizing research performance by developing such innovation activities. Referring to its mutual cooperation system with Daedeok Valley, IITA president says that IITA wishes to contribute to the development of the IT field's cooperation network and IT information circulation system. Kim underlines the importance of constructing an innovation cluster through strengthening and commercialization development plan for nurturing the Daedeok R&D special zone. A substantial cooperation network is needed to be able to facilitate the construction of an IT cluster as well as its commercialization within the Daedeok R&D special zone. Along with the construction of the 'IT field cooperation network', the president also pointed out that it is necessary to construct an information circulation system so that Daedeok R&D special zone may develop as an innovation cluster to share diverse IT information among research institutions, universities and corporations within the special zone. In regard to Daedeok Valley's development direction, the president stressed that the Valley has to develop in a differentiated direction, with priority given to R&D, in contrast with Incheon's logistics or manufacturing and Seoul Sangam's emphasis on content