The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the Ministry of Knowledge Economy launched the Nano-convergence Foundation on Tuesday.

The foundation, led by former chief of Korea Institute of Science and Technology’s Institute for Multidisciplinary Convergence of Materials Park Jong-ku, will oversee the nano-convergence 2020 program.

The foundation’s responsibilities will include planning, assessing and managing the 2020 program, carrying out studies on the demand and outlook for related technologies, and conducting projects deemed necessary for facilitating the commercialization of nano-convergent technologies.

Under the plans the government and the private sector will respectively inject 432.2 billion won ($386.6 million) and 80.8 billion won by 2020 into commercializing locally developed nanotechnologies over the past 10 years.

The program will focus on commercializing nanotechnology-information technology and nanotechnology-energy, each of which has two main subcategories including developing next generation semiconductors, high-efficiency energy transformation technology, and water- and resource-treatment technologies.

The foundation’s targets include developing four “global star” products, developing 40 new technologies that will lead to the creation of new markets and industries and facilitating the establishment of 15 companies that succeed in generating revenue from the newly developed technologies.

“The foundation is expected to contribute in overcoming the inefficiencies caused by factors such as the lack of cooperation between ministries,” the Science Ministry said.

By Choi He-suk  (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)