The Big Data Future Forum, dedicated to the promotion of big data analytics, celebrated its foundation by holding a seminar titled ‘A Safe and Happy Future ushered in by Big Data,’ on October 13 at the National Assembly's Constitution Memorial Hall in Seoul.
Big data analytics has emerged as one of the key industries of the future in the face of the information explosion triggered by advances in ICTs (e.g. smartphones, cloud computing, sensors, etc.) in this super-connected society. Thus, the Big Data Future Forum has recently been founded to exploit smart big data analytics and social networking sites’ data collection and analysis in addressing current social issues.
“With the advent of the IT-based informatization era, often called the sea of information, the amount of data is exploding on the back of advances in ICTs, such as the Internet and smartphones. The ability to analyze, predict the future and prepare accordingly by utilizing such huge amounts of data is viewed as an essential resource for the future and a key factor in the government’s creative economy initative,” said board chairman Jung Yeon-tae of the Big Data Future Forum.
“I am sure that this forum will provide a great opportunity to understand the concept of big data, its importance, limitless applications and implications,” Jung added.
“In March, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning unveiled a plan, dubbed "K-ICT strategies," which lays out a vision of how the government plans to transform the nation into a "creative economy” through ICTs. And we’ve selected big data analytics as one of the nine strategic industries and have been committed to developing the big data industry. Our efforts to promote the big data industry include implementing big data projects, nurturing big data experts and supporting big data start-ups,” said Vice Minister Choi Jaeyou of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
“(In 2008) Google beat the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in predicting the spread of influenza (“the flu”) across the United States. It is a perfect example showing big data analytics’ tremendous applicability. We’ve founded the Big Data Future Forum to contribute to addressing a variety of current issues, predicting the future and preparing a preemptive response through analysis of enormous volumes of data pouring in on a daily basis,” Big Data Future Chairman Jang Kwang-soo mentioned.
“At this seminar held in celebration of our foundation, we pledge our commitment to spreading big data services, developing relevant industries and creating jobs. Furthermore, we will recommend desirable ways to improve systems to the government and plan to set up close cooperation networks with the public, the private and academia,” Jang continued.
- Discussion on the development of the big data industry and obstacles -
“The government needs to tap into big data technology to become capable.”
Chairman Cho Sung-gap of the IT Angels Rotary Club:
“The world has seen the amount of digital data created a day reaching 1.8 zettabytes (ZB). We are living in the era of zettabytes, not gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). One ZB is 1 trillion gigabytes, about 4 million times the amount of data (235 terabytes) held by the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress in Washington.
The amount had already exceeded 2.7 zettabytes in 2012. In the face of tremendous amounts of data produced on a daily basis, taking a quantitative approach towards data is meaningless. Who holds the technology to effectively analyze and utilize data will determine the future of a nation or a company. In other words, big data analytics have been increasingly perceived as a foolproof tool for future planning; disaster management; strategic weaponization of information triggered by efficiency improvements in households and companies; and predicting the future.
The government is on course to implement its integrated information strategy (designed to offer customized services to the public) through big data analytics to satisfy the public's right to know with proactive disclosure of public information and to evolve into a service-minded government catering to the needs of the public.
By realizing big data-driven administration, the government should evolve into a competent government that removes inter-ministerial barriers and improves systems for inter-ministerial cooperation and communication by drawing up future strategies and policy in a data-based scientific fashion and by devising ways for ministries to jointly process big data.”
“Specific measures should be taken to ensure data de-identification.”
Chairman Park Chun-sik of the Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology (KIISC):
“The governments of the US, the EU and Japan have put in place various systems or measures to strike a balance between the utilization of big data and protection of personal information.
In South Korea, there has been no discussion on the topic of de-identification of data. In February, the US government released a draft of a proposed Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights Act, which excludes de-identified data, or data that has been altered so that it cannot be linked "as a practical matter" to an individual person or device. In other words, data that is de-identified would be specifically exempted from Personal Data.
For the first time in 10 years, Japan also submitted a Bill to amend its Act on the Protection of Personal Information in order to rev up the big data industry on the basis of data de-identification. The Bill creates restrictions on the processing of sensitive information, tightens restrictions on disclosure to third parties, places obligations on the data controller to keep accurate books and records and sets up a regime for “Big Data” and “anonymisation of personal information.”
“There is a desperate need for government assistance for Korean software developers with huge growth potential.”
Lee Young-sang , CEO of DataStreams:
“Globe software companies are jostling to dominate the big data platform market. If global software companies have a monopoly on the big data platform market, dependence on a subset of big data technology vendors can be strengthened just like the smartphone market is heavily dependent on the iOS and Android platforms.
The Korean big data market is in its infancy. Thus, now is the perfect time to carve out new market niches. If global software titans flaunting strong brand awareness join forces to gain more ground, however, small and medium-sized Korean software developers can end up facing stronger challenges, not new opportunities.
Given that the domestic market is led by the public sector, government support for Korean software companies is a must for Korean SMEs gaining a firm foothold in the big data software market. Government support for up-and-coming Korean companies is also desperately needed. According to Gartner, most of the element technologies of big data will spread in the next 1-2 years.
The US big data market, the largest in the world, has already seen a great advance in data warehouse-based data analysis techniques, based on which the US big data market has been built. Thus, the US big data market has already matured enough to produce tangible results from the analysis of big data.
Drawing on success cases and ample experience, global software companies have been implementing aggressive, platform-based service offering and marketing strategies. Hence government policy aimed at taking professional Korean software companies into the next level is badly needed to protect the domestic market from becoming a playground for a few foreign companies.
In addition, Korean software companies need to band together to diversify the coverage of bid data technology. In particular, it is imperative for SMEs to cooperate on various fronts, such as launching a joint brand, executing joint marketing and sales strategies or joint entry into overseas markets.”
“Measure to disseminate and spread homegrown commercial software should be drawn up.”
Chairman Cho Poong-yeon of the Korea Commercial Software Association:
“The Korean software market is divided largely into three segments: public institutions, conglomerates and financial holding companies. Since conglomerates and financial holding companies have their own IT arms, they prefer intra-group dealings or foreign-made software. Thus, the market for new big data technologies and commercial software is driven by the public sector.
Since growth in the Korean software market has been led by SI (system integration), the market has focused on the development of SI engineers. The results of SI development or R&D efforts (e.g. sources, IP rights) are owned by clients and distributed gratuitously, so a culture of disregarding the ever-evolving value of software has put down deep roots on Korean soil. The development of SI engineers or hardware procurement takes the largest chunk of the budget, consequently straining the budget for advanced data algorithms and commercial software. Under such circumstances, it is hard to expect high-quality results.
“Even if new software is developed and commercialized, software buyers’ low budget allocations and the small size of the Korean software market will stunt growth”.
“Data scientists knowledgeable about basics, technology, analysis and commercialization should be nurtured.”
Vice Chairman Jeon Chae-nam of the Korean Association of Data Science:
“American graduate schools are running ‘Business Analytics' programs, which link education on big data technology to business analysis, to produce 2,800 data scientists annually. It is estimated that S. Korea needs 14,000 data scientists by 2017. However, only six graduate schools produce 170 data scientists as of now.
A study on 15 graduate school programs and 30 private courses has revealed that those programs are solely focused on big data technology so that they are unable to produce big data scientists armed with basic, technical, analytical, commercial capabilities.
Universities, companies and the government should cooperate to produce big data talent capable of the four key capabilities.
“Legal foundations for de-identification of data should be laid.”
Park Sang-hyunm head of the IoT taskforce at the National Information Society Agency (NIA):
“Under the current law, it is difficult to utilize de-identified data because there is no legal foundation for data de-identification.
The National Assembly is working to create a new law or propose revisions to some existing laws. To promote the big data industry in a way that can ensure protection of personal information, our legal systems should be revamped to make data de-identification mandatory, allow use of de-identified data and impose penalties on unauthorized re-identification of de-identified data.
Furthermore, efforts for the development of technologies for de-identification of personal information and guidelines, education and promotion should be scaled up to help the public feel safe and let companies make good use of de-identified data in a safe manner.”
