Issue Realigning Korea's R&D and innovation policy toward demographic change

Summary

The author argues that demographic change should also reset the direction of Korea's R&D investment. Active adoption of AI and robots to ease labor shortages, expansion of elder-friendly care services built on digital health care, and flexible technology-enabled work such as remote work are named as core means of responding to the population crisis. These are presented not as mere technology development but as instruments of social adaptation. Population decline facing Korea is described as no longer an issue for economic and welfare policy alone. When science, technology and innovation policy is reorganized to respond actively to demographic change, Korea can turn the crisis into an opportunity to design a new social system. The recommendation links the demographic analysis directly to the field of innovation policy.