More private sector investment needed The goal of the government's growth engine technology development project is above all to nurture 10 next-generation growth engine industries which can play a driving role, such as production and exports during and after the forthcoming five years and can lead job creation. In a nutshell, it is an ambitious project which supports and nurtures middle and long-term development tasks with significant future potential demand as well as economic superiority security possibility. Serious discussions about this next generation growth engine project began at the beginning of 2003, prompted by concerns over the future of the nation under the Participatory Government. Ten next-generation growth engine industries were decided on through a "Next generation growth engine reporting meeting" at that time, namely DTV/ broadcasting, display, intelligent robots, hybrid autos, next-generation semiconductors, next-generation mobile communication, intelligence-model home network, digital content/SW solution, next-generation battery, and new bio drugs etc. These 10 next-generation growth engine industries were selected on the canons of world market scale, strategic importance, market-technology's change trend, competitiveness security possibility, and economic-industrial ripple effect. The government's officials responsible for this next-generation growth engine project were particularly selected among types of industry whose export is at the minimum possible over $10 billion and the reason traditional export industries such as steel and shipbuilding were not included, was because these types of industry are not R&D-oriented. More private investment needed Through these 10 next-generation growth industries, value-added production of 169 trillion won (around $173 billion) is expected plus exports of $251.9 billion and job creation for over 2.41 million people in the forthcoming years to 2012, according to the government. The government is predicting that these 10 next-generation growth engine projects will make a decisive contribution for Korea to enter into the per head national income $20,000 era. Among 10 next-generation growth engines, five consortiums responsible for their missions to develop next-generation growth engine projects were forged under the supervision of MOCIE (The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy) such as auto, display, robots, semiconductor, and batteries. MIC (The Ministry of Information & Communication) has come to supervise four consortiums such as intelligence-model home networks, digital contents, nextgeneration mobile communication, and digital content/SW solution and the rest bio new drugs etc. became a supervision of MOST (Ministry of Science & Technology). However, differently from the initial expectations, there are concerns as to whether or not respective consortiums function as it should is growing bigger as some consortiums are not showing good results at the moment. In the case of robots, humanized robots are not actually being developed and in the event of the hybrid autos too, auto technology is lagging far behind in comparison with advanced auto countries Accordingly, to develop next-generation growth industries, a strategic collaboration system between the government and the private sector as well as systematic governmental support system need to be strengthened, noted the newly-inaugurated MOCIE Minister Chung Sye-kyun,. Early industrialization of nextgeneration growth engines Addressing these concerns, 10 directors of next-generation growth engine consortiums met on March 29 to commit themselves to creating even more performances and breaking the bottleneck under the supervision of Mr. Im Sang- Gyu, vice minister for Science & Technology Innovation, MOST (Ministry of Science & Technology). According to this round-table conference, early industrialization of nextgeneration growth engine is being demanded to be urgent. By industries, intelligence-model robot shows still a gap of 5~8 years with advanced countries. The future-model auto's possibility is assessed to be sufficient since advanced countries' auto firms have embarked first, but they are still in a transitional stage. Korea's secondary battery massproduction technology is in a position to compete with Japan, but the material/parts/equipment industry is fragile. Digital TV/broadcasting is forecast to secure global level's competitiveness in digital TV parts on the foundation of success experience in analog TV industry and technological superiority in digital TV field by 2012. Next-generation mobile communication's strategic importance is significant in that maintaining/developing the mobile communication industry's international competitiveness is indispensable to spearhead world IT industry and to maximize value-added. Korea's intelligent-model home network lags 1~2 years behind the United States and digital content/SW solution as well as new bio drugs etc. aim to secure 5th rank and 7th rank globally in 2012 respectively. The most promising LCD In contrast, LCD display is expected to be the most promising next-generation growth engine project, as Director Kim Yong-Bae of The New Growth Engine Display Center explained. It is assessed that above all LCD displays can boost Korea's international competitiveness by holding international competitiveness plus being the most promising creator of the most innovative ideas. The task of next-generation growth engine consortiums in the coming months lies in whether these consortiums could gain tangible performances by carrying out their plans, concentrating their efforts on early industrialization of next-generation growth engines. Moreover, next-generation growth engine promotions are ultimately the responsibility of companies themselves, MOCIE Minister Chung stressed. Experts note accordingly that when there are only companies' proactive interests and investment expansion, next-generation growth engine's realization will be possible. In this context, effective cooperation between associated ministries in conjunction with technology development and human power nurturing, private investment's enlargement and so forth are seen as accelerating.