President Moon Jae-in has pledged to invest one trillion won to foster the data industry, saying the future of innovation-led growth lies in the  industry. 

The president unveiled the investment plan on Friday during a meeting with government officials and business representatives from the industry at the Pangyo Startup Campus in Gyeonggi Province. 

In the meeting aimed at discussing deregulation to stimulate the economy, the president vowed to designate the data industry as a national strategic investment project and promised full government support. 

The president said that as petroleum was the foundation of growth during the industrialization period, data is the crude oil for future industries in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

He said one trillion won will be invested in the sector next year to support the development of core technologies and foster a specialized workforce of 50-thousand and one hundred data firms. 

Investment will also go toward establishing one hundred big data centers and making data purchases from small and medium-sized venture capital firms.