The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MISP) under the leadership of Choi Yang-hee has announced plans to create a data exchange called a “data free zone,”in which people can buy and sell data, much like stocks are traded.
According to Minister Choi, "intelligent information technology, which is at the core of the fourth industrial revolution, will gather vast amounts of data that are collected through the Internet and mobile devices, and then undergoreal-time analysis using cloud and big data technology." He emphasized the “urgent need to secure a foundation for the big data” in a keynote speech at the 7th National Development Forum of the Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies (KOFST)at the Korea Science and Technology Center.
Minister Choi said that "MISP first needs to transform public data into a form conducive to big data analysis and machine learning, and then through data encryption create a data exchange to test data and trade big data like stocks.”
He continued that, "in order to cope with thesenew trends such as the fourth industrial revolution and to overcome the difficult economic situation, active investment in technology based startups and science is needed. Throughout this process, the government will set up a framework for an intelligent information society and actively support international collaboration from among the private sphere.”
In terms of researchers and productivity, Minister Choi added, “these are only 1/10th of those of advanced countries such as the US, Japan, and Europe, despite South Korea having the world’s largest research funds with respect to GDP.”“In the long run,” he said, “it is necessary to move closer to the international science and technology community by strengthening collaborations with advanced countries and encourage international collaborative research.”
Minister Choi reiterated “active participation in the international scientific and technological community and strengthen cooperation not only in technology but also in the data field." In the era of the fourth industrial revolution in which everything is connected with intelligence, this is especially important to cope with the ever-increasing cyber threats. It is important, he maintained,for countries to cooperate closely from the beginning of the event to contain the damage.
South Korea is ranked 2.4 years behind the United States and 0.8 years behind China in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) core technology necessary for the fourth industrial revolution.
