The V4 countries and Korea held an Interim Reporting and Policy Practitioners’ Workshop in Seoul, Korea on 5-8 February 2018.
The workshop took place in the framework of the V4-Korea Knowledge Sharing Program (KSP), a multi-year, multilateral cooperation program launched in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the economies of its participants through sharing knowledge in the field of science, technology and innovation.
The overarching theme for the 2017/2018 KSP cycle is “Innovation Policy for Small and Medium Size Enterprises in the Era of Industry 4.0”. Ambassador Ho-Jin Lee opened the workshop in Seoul, and Hungarian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Gábor Csaba delivered congratulatory remarks. Representing the Hungarian V4 Presidency, Dr. Mária Vass-Salazar, Head of Department for Science Diplomacy of the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade gave a speech on the activity of the ongoing Presidency and the importance and impact of the Knowledge Sharing Program on fostering innovative capacities of SMEs, with a special focus on technology transfer. V4 participants and their Korean expert counterparts shared the interim research findings and implications for their policies in the subject area.
The workshop provided the participants with an opportunity for gaining better understanding of the Korean experiences on the topic via visits to several ministries and professional organizations i.e. Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), Commercialization Promotion Agency (COMPA), Ministry of SMEs and Startups, Research and Business Development Foundation at Sogang University, Korea Industrial Technology Association (KOITA.)
Prior to the workshop and as the first stage of the 2017/2018 V4-Korea KSP, Hungary hosted the Launching Seminar of the KSP (13 September 2017, Budapest), which provided a framework for V4 and Korean counterparts to identify the research topic for this cycle. As a next step, a KSP Policy Seminar and in-depth study was carried out with the involvement of researchers of the respective V4 countries in the course of November 2017 to share the progress of the research, and discuss future plans. The conclusion of the 2017/2018 cycle of the V4-Korea KSP will be the Senior Policy Dialogue and Final Reporting Workshop that will take place in Budapest on 27 March, 2018.
KKM