ICA Active promotional role for IT exports Will take a proactive, not a passive role With the appointment of a new president to the ICA (International Cooperation Agency for Korea IT) there is growing interest in the IT business community as to how the new chief will steer the Agency. In a special inauguration interview with the Korea IT Times to commemorate the publication's first anniversary, the new president of the ICA, Kim Sun-Bae emphasizes, "With a proactive attitude, ICA will play an active role in promoting IT exports, working as a liaison between the government and the private sector, and no longer in a passive role, simply waiting for someone to place an order." As he explained in his inauguration address, ICA plans to treat partners as customers and adopt the same business mindset toward them as if it were a private sector outfit. As an integral part of the IT839 strategy as well as the goal top achieve a national income per capita of $20,000, he points out that ICA's role is as important as ever. The new president stresses that the ICA will take the initiative in globalizing the IT839 strategy, which is one of the central planks of Korean IT policy. The aim of the IT839 strategy is first of all to spark investment in network infrastructure by introducing new services and by activating them. In this manner, it is intended that the Strategy can build an IT industrial base through which cutting-edge machinery and tools, terminal, software as well as the content industry can develop through synergy effects. Kim said, "The heart of IT839 strategy lies in making inroads into overseas markets and for this reason, ICA will nurture IT839 as a worldwide IT brand." In attaining a national per capita income of $20,000, as well, the expectations for the IT field are very high. Following the development of a series of innovative technologies from TDX in the 1980s and CDMA in the 1990s, Korea has established itself as a global IT powerhouse thanks to the introduction of broadband Internet in the 2000s. As a result, the IT industry has emerged as a key driving force of the Korean economy to account for 30% of total national exports, and the contribution is rising day by day, he said. As part of the strategy to promote IT 839 as a worldwide brand, the new president has committed himself to support to be able to commercialize smaller IT solutions and find ways to export the resultant product. In that respect, he asserts that the responsibility of his organization is to increase IT exports by all means necessary, to support domestic IT companies in their efforts to make inroads into overseas markets and to attract inbound investment of global IT corporations, including the establishment in Korea of their R&D centers. With regard to this year's overseas market pioneering activity such as overseas export support and attracting corporate investment, the new president commits himself to strive to draw substantial results by through the dispatch of IT delegations, IT839 overseas marketing support, and IT business exchange meetings. In this vein ICA dispatched IT delegations to Central and South America, Western Europe, and Japan by late May. It also held a buyer's mart, which attracted a total of 157 companies and generated export contracts worth $34.45 million. In the second half of the year, Kim explains that ICA plans to support the efforts of the domestic IT industry to make inroads into overseas markets by dispatching IT delegations to Eastern Europe, Oceania, India, Thailand and Africa. In relation to marketing IT839 overseas, ICA is acknowledged to have contributed to enhancing awareness of Korean IT via DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) road shows in places as different as Germany and Peru in late February and June, respectively, plus the 2005 Korea-Australia-New Zealand Broadband Summit. In addition to such road shows, the ICA plans to encourage domestic IT companies to attract overseas investment as well as by holding IR sessions with global investors. Regarding the outlook for IT exports in 2005, Kim said that along with the low growth in the industry the world over, the climate is overall unfavorable. The specific reasons are the soaring value of the Korean won, a sudden decrease of exports to the U.S. and a decline in product unit prices. Korean IT exporters are not likely to suffer great damage by the increase in the exchange rate since their brand power and technology predominance will continue to draw customers regardless of price. However due to the deterioration of export profits, some slowdown in exports, such as by smaller companies, is forecast. Moreover, with the drop in prices of products such as semiconductors, and LCDs, the country's top IT exports, there are concerns as to whether the pace of Korean exports could continue as it has done. Yet in the second half of the year, product prices, the exchange rate and the price of oil stable pace are forecast to stabilize. It is also believed that exports will pickup to recovery in demand from newly-emerging IT markets such as West Europe and India. Kim pointed out that the Korean IT export industry is beset by a structural problem, namely, a dependence on markets in certain countries as well as certain items. However, the ICA president said that owing to deepening competition with Chinese companies and profit debasement by the rising exchange rate, Korean IT firms are devoting efforts to diversifying their export efforts toward newly-emerging markets such as the EU, and Central and South America in recent years. With regard to improving the image of Korean IT, Kim said that ICA is acquainting the world with Korean capability publishing the bimonthly English-language magazine, 'IT Korea Journal'. The ICA also plans to establish an official website (dynamic.it.korea) in the second half of the year, to inform the world of the progress of Korean IT. __________________________________________