From Informatization Powerhouse to Smart Powerhouse
From Informatization Powerhouse to Smart Powerhouse
  • Korea IT Times
  • 승인 2010.10.12 11:38
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Dr. Lee Kark-bum announced a state informatization strategy at the 14th anniversary of the Ubiquitous forum

Dr. Lee Kark-bum, chairman of the Presidential Council on Information Society, announced a program that will push for a state informatization strategy at a breakfast meeting for the Ubiquitous forum, which is the 14th occurrence of this annual event.
The Presidential Council on Information Society has proposed the "Smart Korea" theme. Lee earlier proposed that President Lee Myung-bak push for the "Smart Work" advancement strategy, the so-called "3.0 of IT informatization" leading to innovation for the betterment of work and life in general.

The followings are excerpts of his announcement.

What is "state informatization" During the mid 1990s, each ministry was directed to map out a state informatization strategy, under the auspices of a government-led informatization campaign, even though it had faltered when the focus was on industrialization.

"The evolution of culture has shifted from industrialization to informatization, and further to knowledge informatization. Now we are facing an important time in which Korea has to change from an informatization powerhouse to a smart powerhouse. Based on the "Smart Korea" initiative, all areas of the economy - the government, enterprises and people - should embrace the concept and take action to see it through," said Chairman Lee.

"Its core strategy is to innovate the physical base of the IT network, while also dedicating energy to effect change in the social, institutional and legal bases. If it fails to lead to innovation in the government, economy and people's lives, then actual informatization cannot be achieved," he said.

Namely, the top seven priorities on the agenda put forth by the Presidential Council on Information Society aim to further develop the national industry through reform of the government and education. "Through this, I hope our life and culture will become prosperous and smart," Lee said.

Ubiquitous Forum members pose for a 14th anniversary picture


The government needs to map out a national strategy, focusing on the next five years, forecasting the next 20 years and back-casting 15 years.

"If we think about it in terms of 20 years from now, in 2030 the future country will be divided into three segments," he said.

"Firstly, a country can not survive as a single, isolated nation. It can only become strong as a member of the global community," said Lee.

"Secondly, as seen in the integration of Europe into the European Union, the countries of a region will combine into a cooperative regional state. Finally, as localization has faded, the strength of a country will be based on how well it will use the global network as a resource," he said.

"Hosting the G20 Summit this November is a part of efforts to make such a change. However, we should acknowledge that we made a judgmental error. The fact that we neglected to invite the Netherlands, which has been invited to attend the meeting of the G20 Summit continuously since its inception two years ago.

The Netherlands is recognized as the "master of network" in the world.

The country has exercised strong influence on global financing and politics, based on its network. For instance, the Netherlands is the No. 3 country for Korea's overseas direct investment and has kept brisk transactions with Korea.

"Korea once suffered hardships owing to poorly thought out relations with Libya. We should know that widely different from Libya, which takes revenge, the Netherlands is calm, but retribution may come later in a more subtle form. Accordingly, the Korean government is required to take appropriate action, in an attempt to rectify the slight," he commented.

The keyword to lead the future 2030 is financing. The "retail bank," which accounts for half of the global financing, will be replaced with IT, he said.

"When you look overseas, it is difficult to find a commercial bank on the street because technology has made the traditional bank obsolete. The trend away from conventional financing will cause traditional banks or fund management companies to evolve in to institutions that directly analyze the flow of the global economy and influence the minds of people. Those organizations who anticipate the future, understand IT convergence and network will be the ones to survive," he stressed.

Noting that European countries, including Germany, have achieved a balanced development of financing, software and hardware, he said, "We need to create an economy which can achieve a balanced development in financing, software and hardware. Korea, which has already shown strength in hardware development, should redouble efforts for the development of software and financing."

The U.S. has long since placed a focus on financing and software. China is chasing Korea with hardware and aims to make Shanghai the financial hub of Asia. Under the anticipation that China will become first in the world by 2030 in terms of GDP and foreign exchange holdings, it could become the hub of global financing with its huge capital reserves.

On the question, "Is it possible for China to become the hub of global financing" the world came out with two opinions.

Those, who think that financing is culture, forecast that China will be reborn as the world's No. 1 by 2030, through combining Hong Kong, the gateway of Western culture, Tianjin based on Chinese culture, and Shanghai, the financial hub of Asia.

On the contrary, other people have said that China cannot have consistency and transparency and will fail to be embarrassed in this new role by the rest of the world within a mere 20 years, stressing that such factors are essential to become the hub of global financing.

Commenting that another task is to develop an advanced service industry in Korea, Lee said, "As mentioned I before, changes in education are important in that we are facing a new paradigm centered on information and financing. Equally important, ubiquitous medical service should be encouraged through compromise and alternatives."

He said, "Korea's medical industry can develop into a global-level industry through introduction of ubiquitous medical services. By doing so, many people can enjoy enhanced medical service benefits. With the basic ubiquitous medical system, just 1.5 million patients can get benefits. However, if we expand the system, 4 million people can enjoy medical service benefits without visiting a hospital. Hospitals also can make more profits as the number of regular patients will increase."

Next is tourism. Tourism can be developed further if we use tourism IT. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are considering ways to accelerate tourism using IT.

"Along with the use of IT, the government, enterprises, tourism and relevant distribution sectors should be combined to be reborn as an attracting point for foreigners," he said.

Let's look at Germany's famous tourist spot, "Lorelei Hill." In fact, there is nothing there. Lorelei Hill is a famous tourism product with a legend which does not exist. It is a case of showing the importance of "story telling."

"If IT and story telling combine, Korea's Han River pleasure boats can be a world-famous tourist attraction. The story of Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who boasts a brilliant war record of 26 victories in 26 battles, can be an excellent tourism product if it is combined with the story," he explained.

The final note is in regard to communication, Lee said, "Korea's communication, which is not intelligent, causes many social problems. Accordingly, we plan to create the 'risk communication with media special committee' in order to lead intelligent communication. Knoledge infrastructure cannot be omitted in a knowledge information society. In the future, sharing of knowledge and the foundation of knowledge to guarantee responsible knowledge are necessary. I think a country, which can build the foundation of knowledge well, will become a top in the world."


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