"To Overcome COVID-19, Regulations Must Be Eased and Bold Support Provided to Companies"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) announced on the 3rd that it held a webinar titled ‘Post-COVID-19 Era Industrial Trend Outlook’ at the FKI Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul. This seminar was conducted as a webinar without an on-site audience in consideration of ‘social distancing in daily life’ to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

In his opening remarks, Kwon Tae-shin, Vice Chairman of FKI, explained the purpose of the seminar, saying, “This event was organized to forecast the overall industrial changes caused by COVID-19 and to review development tasks focusing especially on the recently emerging ‘untact industry.’”

Vice Chairman Kwon emphasized, “To overcome the COVID-19 crisis and lead the world standard of the untact industry, it is necessary to innovate corporate regulations and provide bold support so that companies can perform better.”

Experts attending the seminar called for proactive industrial development in line with the trend changes in the post-COVID-19 era and the intensifying global competition.

Professor Kwak No-sung, Special Professor of Science and Technology Policy at Hanyang University, summarized the COVID-19 era as ‘social distancing’ and ‘inter-national distancing’ represented by the US-China hegemonic war in his presentation on ‘Post-COVID-19 Era Industrial Megatrends.’

Accordingly, he diagnosed that the restructuring of global value chains is accelerating rapidly, and especially the competition among major global companies to dominate the 4th Industrial Revolution and the untact industry ecosystem is intensifying.

Professor Kwak cited the non-face-to-face education sector as an example, stating, “Google is expanding its influence in the global edutech market through educational software such as ‘G Suite’ and ‘Google Classroom.’” He emphasized, “Korea also needs to attract the participation of large corporations to foster a high-quality edutech industry without relying on overseas conglomerates.”

In the panel discussion by sector, Kim Jik-dong, Head of the Untact Industry Team at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “The untact industry should be nurtured as a new industry beyond merely temporarily replacing existing face-to-face industries.” He added, “It is necessary to provide policy support so that Korea’s untact business can become a global standard.”

Professor Kwon Soon-man of Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health emphasized, “Non-face-to-face medical treatment will not replace face-to-face treatment but will complement existing treatment and create synergy, contributing to the development of the digital healthcare industry.” He also suggested, “Allowing non-face-to-face treatment gradually starting from follow-up visits rather than initial visits, and beginning with public health centers and public hospitals, would be an effective strategy.”

Professor Jung Yeon-seung of Dankook University’s Department of Business Administration forecasted, “With the normalization of untact consumption, live commerce and personalized services through virtual and augmented reality will emerge as core competitive advantages in the distribution sector.” He also mentioned, “The number of companies utilizing D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) channels will increase, and companies providing distribution solutions optimized for the untact trend are expected to emerge as new leaders.”

Jang Hye-seung, E-learning Team Leader at the Digital Education Center of the Korea Educational Development Institute, stressed, “Considering the quality and copyright issues of non-face-to-face education, ultimately Korea’s educational content competitiveness must be high.”

She added, “Although non-face-to-face education is supported through education offices and individual schools, digital inclusion policies for citizens who may face relative difficulties, such as students with special educational needs or vulnerable groups, must also be considered.”

Yoo Hwan-ik, Director of Corporate Policy at FKI, emphasized, “Global companies that have succeeded in innovation and transformed industrial paradigms have ultimately contributed to national development through the creation of quality jobs and exports.”

Director Yoo stated, “The untact industry, which has emerged as a new opportunity factor due to COVID-19, should be strategically fostered as K-business, and institutional improvements should be actively discussed.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.