Whole-hearted support of all needed Boosted by the designation of the new chief director to head the Daedeok R&D Special Zone Support Headquarters, after the appointment had been delayed for some considerable time, observers will now be watching with keen interest to see whether the development of the Daedeok R&D Special Zone will progress smoothly. As the official inauguration of Mr. Park In-chul as head of the Special Zone is scheduled for September 1, the establishment of the Support Headquarters is now expected to make rapid progress. Park had previously served as deputy minister of the Policy Management & Public Relations Office, of the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB). In conjuction with this, chairman Koo Bon-tag of the Deadeok Valley Venture Association says, "Considering that the progress of all sorts of Special Zone projects were in a hiatus due to the delay in finalizing the Support Headquarters establishment in particular, a host of research institutes within the Daedeok R&D Valley, venture start-ups, and universities also are expecting an early establishment of the Support Headquarters." When this is completed, all kinds of facility installment as well as inducement associated with this Special Zone development, project promotion support, investment attraction at home and abroad, as well as marketing, and the promotion of the Daedeok R&D Special Zone core project, including some profit business are expected to be strengthened, the chairman noted. The Daedeok R&D Special Zone is seen by some analysts as the last card to be played for Korea to be able to take off to the level of $30,000 per capita GDP, cutting through the situation of prolonged stagnation, with the economy not even achieving 4 percent growth. In that respect, Koo said that for the sake of the success of the Daedeok R&D Special Zone, above all the wholehearted support of constituent members of the Daedeok R&D Special Zone is essential, stressing that Daedeok must become a Special Zone not only of Korea, but also globally, and no longer merely a Special Zone of Daejeon. He asserted that the Support Headquarters should function as the core axis of a network dedicated to the success of the Daedeok Special Zone, adding that it is important to forge networks with the central government for the Daedeok Special Zone to substantially succeed. Chairman Koo who serves also as president, inBioNET, said in an interview with The Korea IT Times recently that the Daedeok Valley must forge a market to lure foreign companies, pointing out that there are not any special Daedeok Valley chain for organic growth. However, following the designation of the Daedeok R&D complex as a special zone, along with the passing of a special law, the R&D Special Zone has led to the rebirth of the Daedeok Valley, heralding a new spring for advanced research and development. By 2015, the Daedeok Valley will have been transformed into a globally-competitive innovation cluster of 3,000 resident companies (currently 824 companies), 20 foreign research institutions (currently 2 institutions), 20 NASDAQ-listed companies (currently zero), 16,000 overseas patent registrations (currently 1,659 cases), technology fee income of 500 billion won (currently 51.8 billion won), and turnover of 30 trillion won (now only 3.6 trillion won). Moreover, the Grand Opening for the Global Ring Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD), in addition to the R&D efforts of science & technology-associated universities such as KAIST, ICU and Chungnam National University etc., are expected to serve as a stimulus for the Daedeok R&D Special Zone to developing as a globally-competitive innovation cluster.