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About KRH

home >About KRH>Background

Background

Rising social demand for advanced Health Technology (HT)

  • Demand for technological development to address issues such as chronic illnesses and pandemics involving communicable diseases
  • Increased national interest in health and wellness, and the desire for high quality health care service

HT industry as a leading national growth factor

  • HT is the world's largest industry expecting continuous growth (annual 7.2%) and rapid growth in China and other developing countries, presenting tremendous opportunity
  • Employment and industrial ripple effects are superior compared to other sectors
    • An investment of 1billion won yields 19.5 jobs while other sectors show an average of 16.9 jobs for the same investment
    • The investment of 1 billion won in HT R&D enhances increase of 3 trillion or more in GDP
      (1.5 ~2 times greater ripple effect compared to other sectors)
“Shortage of investment even with the presence of high quality human resources and technological advancement"

Korean hospitals have high growth potentials in R&D.

  • High Quality Human Resources The national elites attend medical school, and the rate of graduation is within top 6 among OECD countries
  • Competitive Potential of Clinical Research Significant patient care experience due to easy health insurance access and the relatively inexpensive costs of clinical research
  • Accessibility to High-tech Equipment Korea boasts the world’s highest level of hold on high-tech equipment. This includes not only CT and MRI but PET CT and Cyclotron, etc.
  • Digitalized Hospitals Massive clinical information can be analyzed easily thanks to the fast-paced digitalization with added IT technology.

However, the country has not so far promoted its role as HT Hub, and the rather poor research environment is not appealing enough to promote industry's interest.

  • R&D aid for HT focuses heavily on fundamental technology and new material.
  • The bottleneck syndrome affects the trial, licensing and industrializing processes.
  • The tendency is to promote private oriented industrialization, and there is no connection to the needs of hospitals.
  • There are few opportunities for collaborative research with hospitals, and it is difficult to determine market tendencies.

Need for problem solving, goal-oriented HT R&D