SEOUL, KOREA — More than KRW one trillion will be invested in the IT system for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games. The goal is to host the most technologically advanced Olympic Games in history. Dr. Kim Seang-tae, President of the National Information Society Agency (NIA) said, “With the Pyeongchang Olympic Games ahead in 2018, we will provide the best support to make it an IT-based, smart event for our international guests.”
The report titled “Strategies for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Winter Games” was co-prepared by the NIA and the PyeongChang Organizing Committee in December 2011. This document stated that a budget amounting to KRW 1.142 trillion has been allocated in the IT industry for the promotion of smart Olympic Games. The strategies are aimed at realizing a genuinely astute society. This will allow people from around the globe experience Korea’s smart education, culture, and tourism.
The budget allocation includes KRW 8 billion for the design to be finished by the first half of 2012. KRW 35 billion will be contributed to establish an IT system for the Organizing Committee KRW and 303 billion to organize the comprehensive sports game system. KRW 107 billion will be spent on construction of the Olympics communication infrastructure and KRW 561.2 billion for social overhead capital for IT and advanced services. The IT system for the Organizing Committee is for integrated portals and a smart work environment. These will be completed over the next two years while the comprehensive sports game system and advanced services will be promoted from 2013 until 2017
39 new plans for the areas of environment, economy, advancement, and culture were provisionally decided. Advanced services include robotic services, giving the patient medical information without visiting the doctor. There is also a game simulation for players to experience the stadium environment in advance, and N screen-based play watch service for all audiences of the world to see game rules and players’ information via smart pad.
The Olympic area will include 4D Olympics shopping malls, Olympic game virtual experience based on technology of situational awareness, and wireless and wired integrated networking. The area of environment is aimed at Olympics cloud services, integrated management of wastes, and green parks based on new and renewable energy. The area also includes a 4D Olympic museum, bi-directional digital advertisement platforms, and smart volunteer management system.
The government’s large-scale investment in IT amounts to KRW one trillion. This stems from the realization that the success of Olympic Games since 2000 has been directly related to IT. The 2004 Olympic Games in Athens is often referred to as a failure due to its error with the information system called ‘Info 2004’. On the other hand, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is called a science and technology-based event thanks to its advanced IT performance that lead to the development of information of in Beijing. China invested CNY 30 billion based on the Digital Beijing Plan.
Dr. Kim said, ”We must successfully host the IT-based, smart Olympic Games to make the event the world’s best, smart, and most memorable Olympic games so Korea may establish its position as the global leader in the smart era by making the whole society, economy, and culture smart.” Korea’s advances in IT were already proven in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Three decades later, the aim is to sound out Korea’s advanced information system and prepare for a better exporting system, facilities and technologies by 2018.
Smart City: Pyeongchang in 2018
The NIA operates various platforms such as the Smart Work Support Center, Standard Framework Center, and the Center to Support Access to Public Information to generate new value based on its technological knowhow. It plans to provide a Social Media Analysis Support Center and Center for Prevention of Adverse Effects of Information as space to share and use various types of information and knowhow. The organizational ability like this will lead Pyeongchang to become a smart city.
The event in Pyeongchang promoting “Global Pilot Project for Smart Society” is expected to become a great opportunity for many IT businesses. They hope to promote global companies as smart IT-based pilot projects covering 5G, u-ID Tag, hologram and 4D in the areas of finance, transportation, tourism, shopping, and culture will become available in Pyeongchang. The NIA’s ultimate goal is to realize “Smart Korea” by expanding the project across the country. The ripple effects will be maximized once the Olympic Road connecting Incheon, Seoul, and Gangwon-do is established.
Smart Korea to be Established with Knowledge and Information Services
The achievement of Smart Korea will begin with smart Pyeongchang. Pyeongchang will make further progression with advanced governmental functions and roles. Dr. Kim said, “This will lead to the opening and reuse of public information, further advancing to a smart city of creativity and creative people power.” The meaning is to establish an open knowledge ecosystem via open public information platform so that the country enters the era of IT infrastructure. To achieve this, the NIA’s New Year resolution is to provide knowledge-based infrastructure to the country and support IT-based smart Olympic Games. These projects are keeping in line with the governmental “innovation of natural affairs through information.”
The market size of knowledge and information services is expected to be KRW 14 trillion by 2016, meaning the emergence of a knowledge and information era that generates high added value. It is represented by successful examples of information portals such as the US Data.gov and the British Data.gov.uk. These are government-led services using public information that include developing and providing various and beneficial services. Economically added value from opening public information is estimated to be KRW 13 trillion as for the UK and KRW 40 trillion for the EU.
Taking office in 2008, Dr. Kim has always emphasized the concept of knowledge-based information. He stated, “At that time, I could already forecast the smart society paradigm. As a leader of the organization leading information, I believe that knowledge-based infrastructure building is an initiative presenting a key to new national knowledge to lead such changes.”
Knowledge and Information Infrastructure Highlight the Emergence of a Smart Revolution
Dr. Kim associates the current emphasis on the knowledge and information infrastructure with the emergence of the smart revolution. Recently, a new smart revolution started with the IT environmental changes such as the emergences of various smart devices including smart phones, tablet PCs, and smart TV’s as well as expansion of mobile services. At the end of October 2011, the number of smart phone subscribers in Korea was 20 million, enabling a smart era when 80 percent of the economically active population uses smart phones.
These mobile environment changes led to an increase of demand for public information directly related to national livelihood such as public employment, traffic, weather, and food safety. When public information is usefully applied by the nation in their daily life and combined with creativity of the private sector, new businesses and job opportunities can be ceaselessly generated. However, Korea still needs to go further to use public information while many critical national areas covering electronic networks for national administration and e-government has developed greatly. Dr. Kim believes that Korea is in the process of evolving to an era of highly value-added services.
The NIA decided that the New Year should be the starting year to practice new national development strategies for efficient and productive ICT use. Its plan is to strengthen the roles and functions of centers supporting public information use. Those may be used as centers and open platforms where one can benefit from public information in standard forms provided by individual organizations, and establish basic infrastructure to generate various types of added value.
For the IT industry to develop into a new paradigm, the IT industry ecosystem that enables IT components such as hardware, software, contents, and services to make synergistic effects through all-out opening and use of public information shall be provided. Once the environment is established, SMEs, ventures, and one-man creative companies can access public information via open platforms for public information and create dynamics of growth in all areas of the country’s economy and society.
