April 17, 2024
On 28 November 2022, a new Digital Partnership between the European Union and the Republic of Korea was launched.
This future-oriented partnership will strengthen the cooperation between trusted and technologically advanced partners in the digital area that is crucial for the sustainable advance of European and Korean economies, and for our trade and investment ties.
It will foster joint work on semiconductors, next generation mobile networks, quantum and High-Performance Computing, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, platforms, data and skills.
Partnering to promote a common vision for a digital society
The ROK-EU Digital Partnership intends to provide an overarching framework for advanced cooperation across the full spectrum of digital issues including infrastructures, skills, digital transformation of businesses, and digitalisation of public services, as well as digital economy and trade. It intends to strengthen consumer and business trust by respecting a high level of privacy and security.
Both sides intend to comprehensively discuss various economic and societal issues driven by digital transformation and intend to establish an annual meeting at ministerial level, the “Digital Partnership Council”.
Strong leadership for an effective governance of the Digital Partnership
The Council is headed by the Korean Minister of Science and ICT and the EU Commissioner for the Internal Market.
The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the Republic of Korea and the European Commission services (DG CONNECT), acting as the Digital Partnership secretariat, would then coordinate activities on their respective sides, involving all relevant services.
The main contributors of the Council on the Korean side are the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE). Other ROK government ministries and Members of the College of the European Commission will have the possibility to participate in the Council Meeting, when necessary and appropriate.
The Council is expected to meet alternately on each side on a yearly basis. Both sides may identify areas of mutual interest and cooperation tasks, and review progress on deliverables at each Digital Partnership Council Meeting.
Both sides, upon agreement, may initiate and terminate cooperation tasks and related activities in new areas through amendments or annexes to the Digital Partnership.
The Digital Partnership Council is expected to prepare deliverables in the areas identified, building on existing cooperation mechanisms such as the bilateral High Level Policy Dialogue on the Digital Economy, the FTA Committees, the ROK-EU Joint Committee, the Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation established under the S&T Agreement, and dedicated expert workshops.
It aims to leverage existing cooperation activities, not to replace them, and it should not result in additional bureaucratic burdens or heavy coordination costs.
The Digital Partnership Council should be provided with clear progress reports by its secretariat in order to take stock of the progress achieved and provide strategic guidance on the priorities and next steps.
Both sides can operate existing digital cooperation channels without prejudice to the Digital Partnership Council.
These various streams should be integrated in the yearly cycle of the Partnership, so that synergies can be clearly identified and reinforced between the various areas, and service-level or sector-specific discussions can form a holistic political dialogue about digital technologies, policies and exchanges in a cost-effective way.
Regular stakeholder participation and involvement are key to its success, and exchanges are expected to be organised as part of existing cooperation mechanisms and through joint Digital Partnership dialogues with stakeholders.
EU Member States should be closely involved in the implementation of this Digital Partnership, seeking complementarity between actions at EU level and at Member States’ level.
Achieving joint results in priority areas of enhanced digital cooperation
The ROK-EU Digital Partnership aims at delivering concrete joint results. Both sides have identified the following initial set of joint actions for 11 priority areas to implement Digital Partnerships.
On the basis of their long-standing cooperation in the field of digital technologies, both sides intend to build upon the Joint Declaration on Strategic Cooperation in ICT and 5G, signed between the two sides in June 2014, and make full use of instruments such as the Horizon Europe, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, and Korea’s national R&D projects to continuously seek to provide collaborative research opportunities in cutting-edge technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, semiconductors, HPC, quantum technology, 5G and 6G, digital standardisation, and other emerging areas of technology.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides intend to strengthen the transparency and the resilience of the global semiconductor supply chain and reinforce cooperation to advance R&I for the next generation of semiconductors, noting the importance of semiconductors for the economy and society and the significance of the production and supply of semiconductors. Both sides recall commitments in the competition chapter of the FTA, in particular with regard to ensuring transparency in the area of subsidies and avoiding distortions of competition caused by subsidies.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides share a commitment to strengthen cooperation in High Performance Computing (HPC) and Quantum technologies by promoting collaborative research, facilitating access to the respective HPC and quantum computing infrastructures, promoting the joint development of HPC and/or quantum computing applications of societal relevance, encouraging talent exchanges for researchers, professionals in the field and students, and cooperating in the definition of international standards.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides note the increased importance of cooperation in cybersecurity as a lesson learned from the pandemic and current international developments. Both sides intend to make international cybersecurity cooperation more effective.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides intend to work towards a common vision on Beyond 5G/6G ecosystems, including applications, standards, use cases, interoperability and sustainability. Both sides endeavour to conduct collaborative research on the development and standardisation of 6G and 6G integrated services, information exchange on 6G spectrum needs, promotion of private sector cooperation in fostering the ecosystem (e.g. 6G-enabled cross industry convergence) and promotion of active exchanges through international events.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides acknowledge that the expansion of digital infrastructure, digital capacity building, and the development of technologies that take account of the needs of the vulnerable, such as persons with disabilities, are key to building an inclusive digital society. Both sides intend to promote cooperative activities such as encouraging participation in each side’s training programmes and researcher exchanges.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides aim to promote the development and global use of trustworthy and human-centric Artificial Intelligence by continuing discussions and cooperating on AI Principles and their application in their respective jurisdictions.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides recognise each other as key partners in responding to the growing online and digital platform economy, creating an online and digital platform ecosystem with a harmonious balance between innovation, safety, and fairness. Online and digital platforms should remain safe for citizens, and contestable by businesses.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides intend to share information on data-related laws and systems, and, building on the existing adequacy dialogue, further work towards identifying commonalities, complementarities and elements of convergence between existing regulatory approaches and instruments. Both sides envisage to cooperate on matters related to data free flow with trust while preserving their regulatory autonomy.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Initial joint actions for this area:
Both sides share the necessity to deepen discussions on digital trade and to seek a cooperative relationship regarding digital trade facilitation, to be reflected in a set of digital trade principles. Both sides aim at cooperating and coordinating their approaches regarding digital protectionist measures and trends around the world, which have a detrimental impact on trade and investment flows.
Initial joint actions for this area:
Furthermore, both sides intend to examine how they can cooperate on respective initiatives to promote SME’s digital transformation. Both sides intend to exchange information on guidelines and best practices on how the digitalisation of industry, including SMEs, can support the sustainability targets of companies and accelerate the transition to a circular economy.
Both sides can pursue any other form or shape of cooperation on all topics and issues that have been discussed as areas of cooperation and deliverables at the Korea-EU Digital Partnership Council. This list of priority topics would be reviewed and updated on a regular basis through the Korea-EU Digital Partnership Council.
The Republic of Korea and the European Union see the joint benefits of forming a Digital Partnership with the view to support citizens on both sides to learn, work, explore, and fulfil ambitions in the digital society, to empower businesses to deploy new technologies and innovate, and to reinforce digital trade links between the Republic of Korea and the European Union.
The Republic of Korea (ROK)-EU Summit conclusions of 30 June 2020 called for strengthening bilateral cooperation in responding to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and harnessing human-centric digitalisation. In a Leaders’ meeting between the ROK and the EU on 29 June 2022, it was agreed that both sides would expand the scope of bilateral cooperation by accelerating work towards a Digital Partnership.
The 18th EU-ROK Joint Committee on 28 June 2022 called for closer cooperation on economic security, notably on the resilience of supply chains, and explored the potential cooperation agenda for the digital realm under a future ROK-EU Digital Partnership.
Both sides have established close links through a Strategic Partnership based on the revised Framework Agreement, the ROK-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and long-standing cooperation in the digital as well as in the research policy sphere in line with the Agreement on the Scientific and Technological Cooperation between the European Community and the Government of the Republic of Korea (the S&T Agreement – 2006).
The new Korean government announced 120 national policy tasks on 26 July 2022, with goals to build a dynamic economy led by the private sector, a society where everyone is happy, and a country that contributes to global prosperity. As part of its efforts to facilitate digital transformation and innovation-led growth, the Korean government sought to promote cooperation with the EU in securing strategic technologies and R&D collaboration.
The Korean President outlined his vision for a new digital order that digital citizens should follow through the New York Initiative on 21 September 2022, aimed at harnessing digital technologies to realize the universal values of humanity, namely, freedom, solidarity, and human rights. As part of the policy measures to implement the Initiative, the Korean government unveiled the Korean Digital Strategy on 28 September 2022, that sets out a masterplan to strengthen digital competitiveness in sectors including AI and data, and to advance structural innovation across all domains of the economy, society and government through digital transformation led by the private sector.
The Joint Communication of 16 September 2021 from the Commission and the High Representative on the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy calls on the EU to deepen its engagement with partners in the Indo-Pacific to respond to emerging dynamics that are affecting regional stability.
The European Commission’s 2030 Digital Compass Communication calls upon the EU to promote a human-centred digital agenda on the global stage and to form international Partnerships for the Digital Decade with like-minded partners. In addition, the Joint Communication of 01 December 2021 on the Global Gateway presents the EU’s investment strategy for connectivity infrastructure including in the digital sector.
The European Commission’s Trade Policy Review Communication calls upon the EU to support the recovery and fundamental transformation of the EU economy in line with its green and digital objectives.
The ‘Joint Declaration by the European Union, Australia, Comoros, India, Japan, Mauritius, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka on privacy and the protection of personal data’, which was endorsed at the Ministerial Forum for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in Paris on 22 February 2022, expresses a common vision of a human-centric approach to the digital transformation, where the effective protection of personal data plays a crucial role and underlines the importance of data free flow with trust as key to harnessing the opportunities of the digital economy.
Keep up to date with R&I trends in Europe and Korea