Group of Specialists to Discover Future Growth Engine

Emerging as a hot issue in the global economy, 4th Industrial Revolution refers to a next-generation transition delivered by the convergence of ICT. Many experts predict that it will bring a number of changes to our lives in the near future.
Against this backdrop, the National Assembly 4th Industrial Revolution Forum was established by three lawmakers from three major political parties elected through proportional representation. As a lawmakers’ research organization, the Forum is mandated to discover future growth engines in the context of 4th Industrial Revolution and improve national competitiveness. At its inaugural meeting, the participant lawmakers and experts from the industry, academia, and research institutes finalized six major strategic tasks.

6 major strategic tasks

▲ Identifying measures to vitalize new industries and technologies
▲ Studying governance systems to innovate the nation’s Basic Science and R&D
▲ Presenting measures to foster startups through coexistence of conglomerates and SMEs
▲ Improving systems and suggesting models to nurture talented leaders for convergent industry
▲ Policy study and publicity regarding international cooperation based on 4th Industrial Revolution
▲ Studying measures to restructure 4th revolution industries by converging conventional industries and ICT

Korea, to the Best Testbed through Intelligence, Digital, Transformation

Throughout his lecture, ETRI President, Dr. Sang hoon Lee emphasized the importance of the IDX (intelligence, digital, and transformation) strategy to appropriately respond to 4th Industrial Revolution. “4th Industrial Revolution will result in expansion of our physical and mental capacity through the intellectualization of the existing systems and all social systems. Therefore, humans and social systems should be organically connected,” said Dr. Lee. Referring to the example of Medicine 4.0, he also added, “In the future, AI (Artificial Intelligence) will maintain the health of all people. The government will establish a medical information center for integrated management of information in the private sector and operation of a medical AI platform; research institutes will develop medicine-tailored AI technology and medical institutions become responsible for producing and providing medical big data. This process will eventually contribute to expanding the bio-industry and business ecosystem.”

He also introduced how major economies are preparing for 4th Industrial Revolution. “The United States already has a range of platforms to collect an enormous amount of data on a daily basis and is aggressively utilizing private clouds and computing power. Japan has begun to design an economic system based on the IoT, robotics, and AI to target the global robotics market. While Germany is reorganizing its manufacturing system under the slogan of Industry 4.0, China began its intelligent manufacturing initiative “Made in China 2025.” Presenting his ideas about how Korea should prepare for the new trend, he explained: “Korea is a suitable testbed for 4th Industrial Revolution and has the world’s top-level ICT achievements and hardware. It can embrace any kind of advanced services and should use them as a growth engine to enhance the quality of life of all human beings.”
The Fourth Industrial Revolution Forum will establish six committees, each of which will see participation by experts from relevant sectors. The Forum plans to engage in policy research activities for international cooperation based on science and technology and ICT; hold expert lectures, seminars, debates, and academic meetings; and hold discussions and public hearings to develop policy and motion legislative bills. It will also collect various opinions from industries and discover exemplary cases through visits to the field and publish research reports, references, and books to raise public awareness regarding 4th Industrial Revolution. In addition, it will open an online discussion for Internet users to collect public opinion. It is anticipated that the Forum will contribute to creating future jobs and new industries and establishing a foundation for economic recovery.