The South Korean government plans to invest 5.6 trillion won ($5 billion) into new growth engine industries by 2020, ministries said Tuesday, reaffirming the Park Geun-hye administration’s will to realize its creative economy initiative.

The new budget plan is expected to generate $100 billion in exports of related products and services by 2024, officials said.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy ― the two government offices in charge of nurturing new growth engine businesses over the past years ― recently agreed to combine their project teams into 19 business sectors.

Under the new plan, the largest portion of 98.3 billion won will be poured into developing wearable smart devices and related services, while other key areas include Internet of Things technology, intelligent robots, the fifth-generation mobile network, smart cars and intelligent semiconductors.

“About the new growth engine sectors, the government will take preemptive action by expanding investment and easing related regulations,” said ICT Minister Choi Yang-hee.

“As part of the government’s Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 strategy, we will ramp up efforts to draw results from this year so that the national economy gains a boost from it,” said Industry Minister Yoon Sang-jick.

Based on Samsung and LG’s global presence, the government plans to take an early edge in the wearable device market by 2020. It also plans to set up a global certification facility to gauge related R&D technologies of start-ups.

In the field of smart cars, more resources will be poured into self-driving technologies and traffic control systems, while related existing regulations will be largely eased or revised.

Korea plans to become the first nation globally to introduce the ultrafast 5G network service. With an aim to start the pilot service in 2018, it is working with telecom operators to develop the infrastructure.

The government has also set a target to produce 9.7 trillion won worth of intelligent robots by 2020. More support will be given to smaller firms, while a test bed will be offered for them to secure global competitiveness.

Ministries said the plan will continue to be reviewed and revised by some 200 experts across industries, considering the ever-evolving technologies. The final plan will be confirmed in April by a special committee.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)