The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon) announced on the 23rd that it will hold the first ‘Regional Challenge Solution Challenge’, in which local residents themselves propose regional issues and seek solutions through science and technology. Selected outstanding ideas will go through joint planning with regional R&D support centers and be linked to follow-up research and development and field demonstration starting in 2027.
 [코리안투데이] Poster for the first ‘Regional Challenge Solution Challenge’ © 장형임 기자 |
This challenge was arranged to introduce a new regional R&D approach in which residents, who know local issues best, directly propose problems and resolve them through science and technology. Taking residents’ field experience and ideas as the starting point, regional R&D support centers, researchers and experts work together to develop concrete solutions.
Until now, regional R&D has expanded around the development of advanced technology and the fostering of regional industries, but residents have had relatively few opportunities to participate in the process of resolving major community issues through science and technology and to feel the results firsthand. This challenge differs from the existing approach in that it begins with the ideas of residents who understand the problems best. From the residents’ perspective, it opens a channel through which everyday inconveniences can lead to actual research and policy.
The residents’ challenge will be carried out around 17 regional R&D support centers nationwide. Regardless of where they live, any member of the public may propose a regional issue of interest and an idea for resolving it using science and technology, and selected outstanding ideas will be developed into concrete projects jointly by the relevant regional R&D support center and the proposer.
Through public presentations and evaluation by experts and a citizen review panel, a total of six outstanding projects will be selected: one grand prize, two top excellence prizes, and three excellence prizes. The grand prize carries 10 million won, each top excellence prize 6 million won, and each excellence prize 3 million won, for a total of 31 million won in prize money, along with a commendation from the Minister of Science and ICT. The minister’s commendation will be awarded separately to the idea proposer and the regional R&D support center that participated in joint planning, and the prize money will be received jointly.
The biggest feature of this challenge is that it connects residents’ ideas to actual research and development and field application. Selected outstanding projects will refine follow-up R&D and demonstration linkage plans based on content jointly planned by the proposer and the regional R&D support center, and from 2027 they will pursue research and development and field demonstration in connection with related programs.
An expert challenge to spread existing achievements into regional fields will also be held. The Ministry of Science and ICT will pre-review projects with high potential for use in regional fields among 135 social-problem-solving R&D projects carried out from 2020 to 2025 and projects proposed by experts in various fields, selecting 10 of them; it will then choose three final projects through public presentations, panel discussions and expert consulting, and award the Minister of Science and ICT commendation. The selected projects are planned to be linked to short-term demonstration and follow-up R&D.
Koo Hyuk-chae, First Vice Minister of Science and ICT, said, ‘The people who know a region’s issues best are the residents who live there.’ He added, ‘By resolving the important regional issues that residents propose through science and technology and research and development, we will ensure that local residents can directly feel that science and technology play an important role not only in the region’s growth but also in residents’ lives and community change.’ He emphasized, ‘This year’s challenge will not end as a one-off event; we will develop it concretely together with the regional R&D support centers so that it can lead to actual R&D and field demonstration next year, and we will build a new model of regional R&D in which residents propose and science and technology solves.’
Members of the public wishing to take part in the contest can find details on the Ministry of Science and ICT website (www.msit.go.kr) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP) website (www.kistep.re.kr) and apply by 18:00 on October 11.
지역 홍보대사 신청 기자양성과정 신청 코리안투데이 지부장 신청 코리안투데이 인천강화
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