"In the Era of Great Transformation, Korea Must Become Its Own Benchmark to Survive"

On the 10th, Professor Lee Jeong-dong of Seoul National University presented the task of an 'Innovative Republic of Korea' at the 2021 Korea Science and Technology Annual Conference

Professor Lee Jeong-dong of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Seoul National University is delivering the keynote speech at the 2021 Korea Science and Technology Annual Conference held online on the 10th. Photo by Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] It has been pointed out that for Korea to overcome the era of great transformation brought about by COVID-19 and the 4th Industrial Revolution, it must break away from its past innovation approach of following 'advanced countries' and achieve a leap by creating its own benchmarks.

Professor Lee Jung-dong of the Department of Industrial Engineering at Seoul National University made this point during his keynote speech titled "Great Transformation, the Image of an Innovative Nation Korea" at the "2021 Korea Science and Technology Annual Conference," which was broadcast online on the 10th. Professor Lee, who served as the Special Advisor for Economic Science to the Presidential Secretariat from 2019 until May of this year, is also well-known as the author of the bestseller "The Time of Accumulation."

Professor Lee first evaluated that Korea has developed sequentially from the era of 'imported technology' in the 1970s, when it learned technology from advanced countries, to the era of improved technology through understanding and enhancement until the 2000s, and then to the era of proprietary technology that in some respects surpassed advanced technology, thereby opening the era of a per capita GDP of $30,000. Notably, during critical moments such as the second oil shock in the late 1970s, the IMF crisis in the late 1990s, and the 2008 global financial crisis, unlike other countries, Korea bounced back and has now become an advanced country envied by nations like Brazil.

However, Korea still has the limitation of using 'advanced countries' technology' as the standard of thinking. It remains in a relative mindset of quickly adopting, modifying, or surpassing advanced countries' technology, but it is very rare to introduce new technologies and methods that no one has challenged before. In the past, advanced technology provided a roadmap that allowed Korea to perform well, but going forward, no one has yet defined the future, standards, or direction of cutting-edge technologies such as autonomous vehicles, semiconductors, and quantum computing.

Accordingly, Professor Lee argues that for Korea to lead even in this era of great transformation, it must create a society that embraces a differentiated sense of problem awareness, a painstaking scale-up process, and acknowledges and supports failure so that it can rise again.

Professor Lee stated, "From now on, we must break away from the follower mindset and contemplate what kind of world we want to think about and create. We need to change the question from 'What do you think will happen?' to 'What should happen?'" He then presented tasks to achieve an 'innovative nation,' including ▲a culture where differentiated ideas can be freely proposed ▲a physical foundation that allows not only thinking but also direct execution ▲an open environment where ideas and capabilities are socially connected ▲an institutional foundation where trial-and-error experiences are not wasted but utilized ▲a social foundation that allows for re-challenging even after failure.

He also urged national-level tasks such as ▲a national human resource plan to cultivate experts ▲a national financial system supporting innovative products and technologies ▲a regulatory update system supporting new industry challenges ▲a venture support system for scale-up ▲strong manufacturing capabilities as the physical foundation for scale-up ▲an innovation finance system sharing the risks of innovation ▲an innovation safety net supporting re-challenges ▲and leadership that supports challenging trial and error.

Finally, Professor Lee cited recent news of the Bank of Korea raising its benchmark interest rate, which foreign media reported as "Korea being the first among advanced countries to raise interest rates," as an example. He said, "I also habitually call Korea a developing country. However, outside, Korea is already seen as having grown enough to move beyond the New-to-Korea mindset and challenge New-to-the-World. I hope that we ourselves gain the confidence to present benchmarks and that Korea’s system is equipped to support a society full of scientists and engineers who challenge global issues."

Meanwhile, at the conference, Professor Kwon Oh-kyung, a distinguished professor at Hanyang University, received the "Korea’s Highest Science and Technology Award." Professor Kwon was recognized for his contribution to Korea’s rise as the world’s strongest display powerhouse by developing the world’s first active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display technology for mobile and TV.

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