Text Fwd: Korea eyes robotics industry 남한 로봇 산업에 눈독

Korea Times
Dec. 9, 2010
Korea eyes robotics industry
By Kim Tae-gyu

The Korean government aims to nurture the service robot industry as one of the country’s next-generation growth engines to succeed the currently flourishing semiconductor and automobile businesses.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) said Thursday that it will channel a total of 30 billion won ($26.3 million) next year alone to become one of the three powers in the robot industry by 2018.

``The robotics markets will shift their focus from today’s mass-production models to service models down the road. We must strive to preempt the trend through brisk efforts,’’ an MKE official said.

``Presently, our market share in the global scene is around 10 percent. We are looking to double the figure by 2018 to join the ranks of the world’s top three by then.’’

That means that Asia’s fourth-largest economy is looking to earn as much as $20 billion a year in 2018 as the world market is expected to grow to $100 billion by then from today’s $10 billion.

READ MORE