The "Icheon Forum," a knowledge management platform for SK Group's "Deep, Change (Fundamental Innovation)," will be held online for three days from Aug. 18.
SK Group announced on Aug. 17 that it will find SK's detailed growth solution through practical and detailed discussions and expert lectures during the "Icheon Forum 2020 Main Forum" involving internal members such as SK CEOs, executives and employees, global scholars, and outside experts.
Considering the maintenance of social distancing caused by COVID-19, this forum will be held at SKMS Research Institute in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, where panel discussions on five topics will be broadcast online, including innovative artificial intelligence (AI), digital transformation (DT), happiness maps, and social value management accounts (SV Account). Lectures and discussions by overseas scholars will also be held online.
The Icheon Forum began in 2017 when SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won suggested, "In order for companies to avoid the 'Sudden Death' under the rapidly changing economic and social environment, they need a forum to understand technological innovation and social and economic needs and develop insights to prepare for the future."
This year's Icheon Forum has changed not only in the form of online hosting but also in terms of operation. SK explained that if the Icheon Forum had been centered on lectures to "understand" the need for deep change until last year, this year will focus on discussions on finding practical methodologies for deep change beyond understanding.
To this end, SK CEOs, executives, employees, and outside experts will participate in the panel discussion, which will be conducted on five different topics, and find solutions to practice deep change through in-depth discussions.
Under the theme of "Clean Earth, Deep Change for Sustainable Growth" on Aug. 18, the opening day, detailed discussions will be held on the importance of the environment and members' commitment to the need for environmental projects, eco-friendly practice tasks in daily life, and direction of change for implementing environmental projects.
Lectures by overseas scholars were also arranged throughout the three days of the Icheon Forum. On Aug. 18, lectures and discussions are scheduled on "The Path of Innovation After Corona 19" by Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of "Black Swan," and Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics, who presented the "Long Tail Theory."
Jeff Dyer, a professor at Brigham Young University in the U.S., and Nathan Furr, a professor at the University of INSEAD in France, will give lectures on Aug. 19, and Tal Ben Shahar, a renowned happiness consultant in the U.S. Ivy League, will be followed on Aug. 20.
Prior to the main forum of the Icheon Forum, SK Group held a total of 10 sub forums from May 21 to July 22, allowing executives and employees to think about deep change methodologies and prepare for themselves.
Chairman Chey said in an in-house broadcast on Aug. 11, "We need to figure out how the world moves through learning opportunities such as the Icheon Forum Sub Forum and the Main Forum to find out what happens next year," adding, "As the discussions at the Icheon Forum are linked to the plans for the next year after a CEO seminar, members need to think on their own."
A SK official said, "We will proceed with the talk show format and broadcasting news format so that we can talk about the truth in a comfortable atmosphere, not just in the form of a forum," adding, "If all SK members actively utilize knowledge platforms such as the Icheon Forum, we will be able to make it a starting point for innovation in business models as well as self-development."
