MOCIE PICKS Top 10
New Technologies for 2004
- POSCO's FINEX ironmaking technology leads the list

The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy announced Jan.20 the list of its Republic of Korea 10 New Best Technologies for 2004 as it has been doing every year since 1999 to encourage the development of technology in the country.
The new technologies on the list have been developed and put into commercial uses last year amid high expectations in terms of economic and technological effect for the country, MOCIE Minister Lee Hee-beom said. They include five new technologies developed for the first time in the country and five that are considered tops in the world, the minister said.
The list includes; POSCO's FINEX steel production technology; Samsung SDI's 32" Vixslim Digital Display; Amore Pacific's cosmetics made with new material that cuts off ultra violet lights; Samsung Electronics' 5-Color Ultra-Slim DLP TV;LG Electronics' digital TV to mobile phone; LG Philips LCD's LTPS AMOLED; LG Electronics' XGA single scan PDP; Hyundai Motor's soft method hybrid electric car; PSIA's Sub-nanometer Metrology nuclear microscope; Mando's intelligent safety control device.
The ministry noted that these top technologies would be able to record 5.475 trillion won in sales including $3.4 billion in exports, quoting the Korea Agency for Technology and Standards(KATS).
MOCIE Minister Lee Hee-beom presented the certificates to the companies that own those high-tech technologies at the auditorium of the KATS on Jan.20 with the attendance of KATS Administrator Yoon Kyo-won.
MOCIE announced the list every year since 1999 in the hope that the action would propel the development of new technologies and commercialize them. The ministry intended to give an honor and pride to the firms that own those technologies to hold out a vision for the development of new technologies to the industry as well as to the world to boost Korea's brand images.
The new technology list includes five related to display products, two in chemical raw materials and three in parts sector. Many came from parts and raw materials, and IT sectors, whose technologies have been intensively developed by both private and official sectors. These new technologies are expected to replace the existing technologies in line with a new trend causing the industry to upgrade its technologies.
Many on the list came from such key sectors as automobiles, display and mobile phones areas and helping the current export momentum alive.
Of the 60 technologies selected since 1999, 23 came from the electronics and information sector. The machinery, parts and transport equipment sectors following with 18 and 15 in the chemical and raw material sector. The construction and life and medical sectors rather have had a dismal record placing only one in the construction sector and three in the life and medical sector.
Professor Lee Jang-mu of Seoul National University, who chaired the screening committee, said the selected new technologies are all world-class technologies, some including those held by some of advanced countries exclusively and thus are in direct competition with them and able to hold their own.
Here are a close look at those selected new technologies:
FINEX steel production technology developed by POSCO(President Kang Chang-oh) is capable of replacing the existing blast furnace. Since 1990s, steel mills around the world tried to develop it, but POSCO is the only one that succeeded in developing it in the world. It took the steel maker 180 months to develop the new ironmaking technology. The technology enables the use of iron ores and coal at the same time, reducing three different production processes to one in a revolutionary way.
The investment to build FINEX production facility would come to only 81 percent of a blast furnace with crude iron production cost coming to 78 percent of the blast furnace. The new steel production technology reduces pollution material drastically. It is the only steel production process that can replace blast furnace steel production processes when they get old. POSCO intends to build a FINEX steel production facility by the end of next year, which is expected to make the steel mill even more competitive as it replaces old blast furnaces, with the capacity to turn out 1.5 million tons of crude steel a year. POSCO would be able to secure an international competitiveness and global technology leadership by leading the steel industry with its FINEX steel production method. The steel maker is capitalized at 482.4 billion won with 19,377 employees at its two plants, one in Pohang and the other in Gwangyang. It exported $50 billion worth of steel products last year.
Samsung SDI(President Kim Soon-taik) 32" Vixslim Digital Display is the world's first super slim braun tube able to cut in half the traditional TV with braun tubes. Its price would be only half of the LCD TV with superb screens and designs showing the future of the age of digital TV. Digital TV will be a main display device in the digital display market. By 2007, it will take up more than 75 percent of the TV market in the world. Sales of SDI Vixslim will total 44,780 billion won during the 6-year period between 2005 and 2010. The Samsung Group affiliate is capitalized at 240.2 billion won with employees totaling 8,140. The company is projected to control 75 percent of the domestic market this year amounting to 47 billion won, while dominating 80 percent of the world market for the product this year amounting to $138 million.
Amorepacific(President Suh Kyung-bae) colloidal composite for sun-screening cosmetics is expected to improve the structure of the domestic cosmetics industry as it is a unique technology that cuts off ultra violet light, harmful to skin and thus replace most of imported raw material that go into cosmetics. When its marketing is launched in full swing, it is expected to cut up 30 percent share of the cosmetics market. Its domestic sales are projected to hit 10 billion won this year and demand expanding by that much every year from next year.
It took the company 22 months to develop it. The company has 51 billion won in capital with 3,148 employees. Its sales last year totaled 8.5 billion won with sales projection for this year totaling 10 billion won.
Samsung Electronics(Vice Chairman Yoon Jong-yong) 5-Color Ultra-Slim DLP TV is the first one in the world with multi-color method DLP TV. The company developed the multi-spectral display technology by itself. Using 5-colored color-wheel, it improved the recreation ratio of color by 20 percent and the dark and light ratio by 30 percent so that home viewers would enjoy movie-house like TV screens at their homes. It took the company 21 months to develop the product. The company is capitalized at 29.414 trillion won with the number of employees totaling 61,000.
Its exports are likely to amount to 1.5 trillion won this year against 900 billion won recorded last year with domestic sales projected to hit around 1.6 trillion won against 100 billion won sold last year. Its world market share registered 45 percent last year.
LG Electronics(Vice Chairman Kim Ssang-soo) digital TV to mobile phone is the first one developed in the world. It satisfies such standard specifications as Eureka-147 Stream Mode, MPEG-2 TS, MPEG-4 SL, MPEG-4 AVC/H264(video), and MPEG-4 BSAC(audio). It was able to cut down the size of antenna from 42 cm to 12 cm so that it may be put inside the mobile phones and view TV programs and also make phone calls with mobile phones. Its domestic demand is projected to grow to more than 8.5 trillion won in the next four years creating 163,600 jobs. Its world market is projected to expand to $5.6 billion in 2010 from $200 million next year. The product is expected to dominate 50 percent of domestic market this year and grow 5 percent every year annually afterwards.
LG Electronics has for the first time in the world succeeded in commercializing XGA Single Scan PDP, which is a core technology for popularizing XGA PDP. The PDP industry tried to develop it around the world, but failed in the past several years. It took the company 23 months to develop the technology.
The world demand for the XGA PDP totaled 7 million units last year amounting to 5 trillion won, growing 80 percent annually in the next several years. Its domestic sales are projected to reach 3 trillion won in the next 3 years including TV sets. The company is capitalized at 784 billion won with over 27,000 employees.
Hyundai Motor(Vice Chairman Kim Dong-jin) made Korea only the second country in the world to commercialize the soft type hybrid vehicle. The nation's largest auto maker succeeded in developing a car powered by both batteries and gas alternatively with reduced fuel expenses. It can run 18 km per liter of gasoline, about 50 percent more than ordinary gasoline powered vehicles, satisfying the North American regulations on ultra low emission vehicle. The automaker has successfully opened the way for Korea's car industry continue to be an export industry by coping successfully with various trade walls put up by advanced countries environmental protection as excuses. The hybrid cars are projected to take up more than 50 percent of domestic car market in the country by 2030 so that the car industry may continue to be a big contributor to the national economy in terms of production, exports and employment.
Mando Corp.(President Oh Sang-soo) has become the first company in the country to commercialize the intelligent vehicle stability control system. It took the company to develop it 58 months, becoming only the fourth company to do so in the world, following companies in Germany, the United States, and Japan. The vehicle stability control system helps maintain the stability of cars on snowy and rainy and other slippery conditions with the use of its control system and engines saving lives of those on board at times. Its domestic market was valued at 26 billion won last year with the projection for this year coming to 87 billion won, growing 25 percent per year until 2008 when demand comes to 150 billion won. The company expects to export $100 million worth of the equipment by 2007 and $300 million worth the following year to North America and China.
The company with plants in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province employees over 3,500 capitalized at 51.3 billion won. Its sales last year totaled 142 billion won. nw