In a bid to enhance the means of production, research, and development, today, South Korea and Israel have officially announced to jointly invest the total sum of $5.3 million dollars for robotics development.
In recent times, the use of robots by most companies around the world has increased productivity and the potential to bring more manufacturing production work back to developed countries.
According to an official statement released today, the duo countries will invest up to $5.3 million in a new strategic collaboration project called the Lighthouse Program to boost the collaborative development of robotics technology.
The Lighthouse Program, a combined research and development collaboration between Seoul and Jerusalem, is a follow-up to last year’s changes to the two nations’ industrial technology accord.
Both sides agreed to increase the proportion of government backing and quadruple the annual budget for their cooperative technology development initiatives to $4 million.
Earlier this year the South Korea Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy reiterated its commitment to focus on robots in the domains of logistics, agriculture, livestock, personal service, and health care. Therefore, the cooperative development initiatives would be expanded to include autonomous driving and hydrogen technology.
According to the trade ministry, the Lighthouse Program will require at least two participants from each country. They must include a company and a university or research institute from both sides, unlike the previous program, which supported one-on-one matching between companies from each country.
Once selected for the program, a project could earn up to $5.3 million in inter-governmental funding over the next two to four years, or up to 66% of the overall project cost.
Accordingly, the Seoul officials and the Israel Innovation Authority conducted a launching conference in Tel Aviv to announce the two countries’ Lighthouse Program, with researchers and robotics industry personnel from both countries in attendance.
Thus, as projected by the duo countries, the lighthouse program, like the program’s goal, will provide an opportunity for both countries to light up new industrial technology channels, stimulate innovation, and continue to boost private research and development innovation in the regions.
