KMIPA Wows the International Meteorological Community with its Multi-point Laser
KMIPA Wows the International Meteorological Community with its Multi-point Laser
  • By Kim Yu-na (yuna@koreaittimes.com)
  • 승인 2014.09.19 01:06
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The Korea Meteorological Industry Promotion Agency (KMIPA, Dr. Lee Hee-sang, the President), as one program of ‘the Support of Meteorological Industry and the Development of its Applicable Technology,’ provided for the development of the world’s first ‘Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter,’ thus capturing the attention of the international meteorological community.

Dr. Lee Hee-sang, the President of the KMIPA

Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter was successfully developed by a domestic enterprise with the funds from the KMIPA as ‘the Development of the Core Technology of the Meteorological Equipment’ among its R&D enterprise.

There was ‘Ultrasonic Snow-depth Meter,’ which was already in use as an automated measurement of snowfall, but the accuracy was generally not to be trusted, so the observer has directly measured the snowfall using a ruler. However this Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter adopted a two-dimensional scanning method and is the simplest and the most accurate among the automated snowfall measuring devices yet developed.

Once it is to be commercialized, measuring the snowfall, which has been thus far done manually under the windy and cold weather conditions, will be automatically done 24 hours a day by Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter, thereby saving labor and enhancing accuracy in weather forecasts to prepare against a heavy snowfall. ‘WeatherPia Co. Ltd.’ which developed this device has already applied for an intentional patent on it and plans to make it commercialized.

As industries are getting increasingly sophisticated, economic losses from weather-related disasters have snowballed. Over the past 10 years, S. Korea has suffered a weather-related economic loss of KRW 1.7 trillion. Roughly a 52% of S. Korea’s GDP is susceptible to weather according to a survey by Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI).

As weather has such a great impact on the entire economy of a nation as well as the daily lives of the general public, it is growing into an industry. The worldwide meteorological industry, which expanded a 10% annually to hit approximately KRW 16 trillion in 2010, is projected to reach nearly KRW 26 trillion in 2020. That’s why developed nations such as Japan and the US have been keen on promoting their meteorological industries, resultantly helping their companies leverage accurate weather information in achieving cost reduction and revenue creation.

 

The KMIPA serves as a voice for the meteorological field

Although S. Korea’s meterological industry still pales in comparison with developed nations,’ the domestic industry, led by the KMIPA, is busy spurring itself on to expand. “The biggest characteristic of the KMIPA is that it acts as a liaison between the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the domestic meteorological industry,” said Dr. Lee Hee-sang, the President of the KMIPA.

Thus the KMIPA speaks for the domestic industry in order to help the KMA draw up appropriate policies; and it works towards the advancement of the domestic meterological industry through various industry promotion projects - for instance technology development, the provision of information services and assistance for overseas market entry.

Domestic meteorological companies are small in size since they mainly serve the domestic market. However, building on their technological prowess, they have been making forays into overseas markets; their growth potential, many think, is pretty much high. Hence the KMIPA has been assisting domestic suppliers of meteorological instruments in participating in international meteorological instrument exhibitions, with a view to boosting overseas market entry by domestic companies.


The Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter will change the landscape of the meteorological industry

The KMIPA helped eight domestic purveyors of meteorological instruments take part in ‘the 2014 METEOREX International Exhibition (the Exhibition on Meteorological Instruments, Related Equipment, and Services)’ held by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in last July in St. Petersburg, Russia. This is the international meteorological measuring instruments exhibition held every two years, and this year ‘Multi-point Laser Snow-depth Meter’ developed by Korean firm, ‘WeatherPia Co. Ltd.’ caught the eyes of meteorological officials from 19 countries and overseas meteorological companies.

Though the KMIPA’s R&D projects have borne fruit technology-wise, the share of government support in the domestic meteorological industry is a third of what is seen in developed nations. “I look to develop application technologies for weather services, such as weather information contents and weather consulting, through the Project for Supporting the Meteorological Industry and Developing Application Technologies. And in order to obtain key technologies needed for the development of meteorological instruments, I will wean the nation off its high dependence on foreign-made meteorological instruments by domestically developing them and will also pursue technological convergence,” President Lee said, expressing his enduring commitment to the advancement of the domestic meteorological industry. The Project for Supporting the Meteorological Industry and Developing Application Technologies, which kicked off in 2011 with a starting budget of KRW 2 billion, saw its budget tripling to KRW 6 billion this year; some of its sub-projects succeeded in commercializing their results.

Growth in the meteorological industry, a new growth engine basking in the global spotlight, is forecast to soup up Korean industry and create jobs, therefore moving forward the S. Korean government’s creative economy initiative. Furthermore, swiftly capitalizing on the attention paid to Korean-made meteorological instruments, displayed at the 2014 METEOREX International Exhibition, the nation should double its efforts to take the meteorological industry to new heights.


Small-sized domestic meteorological companies are expected to grow rapidly, backed by their great technologies and strenuous endeavors for oversea market entry

Since Dr. Lee Hee-sang was appointed President of the KMIPA, he has pushed ahead with a large-scale restructuring, showing strong leadership at the top. He also drew up the Plan for the KMIPA’s Managerial Innovation and streamlined the key functions of the KMIPA by tasking a single division with the job of revitalizing the meteorological industry, which used to be handled by two different divisions. On top of that, he created Internal Audit Division for greater transparency and is to revamp the KMIPA’s regional management system so as to achieve balanced regional development in the meteorological sector.

“I believe desirable future directions for the development of the meteorological industry is to help the industry stand on its own feet through public-private cooperation,” President Lee added. To that end, the KMIPA is set to nurture domestic meteorological companies into solid, well-established ones by addressing the difficulties they experienced in the field and to expand the meteorological market by boosting both domestic demand and exports. The ultimate goal of the KMIPA is to ensure the sustainable development of the meteorological industry through balanced public-private cooperation, said President Lee.


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