In recognition of its 20th anniversary, KDI School has been hosting a series of seminars by renowned speakers for the past five months. The series has brought some of the distinguished thinkers to speak about the Korea’s innovation and leap to give an outlook for the future of Korea. Launched in March, with a lecture titled “Getting Korea Ready for the 21st Economy: Turning Challenges into Opportunities” by Dr. Joon-Kyung KIM, the President of KDI School, the ongoing lecture series has completed its fifth lecture in July. In the second half of the year 2017, four seminars are scheduled to take place once a month, concluding the final lecture in November.

“The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is expected to reach a tipping point around 2025. This will clearly separate the winners from the losers among countries,” said Professor Ju-Ho LEE while speaking on the topic “The 4th Industrial Revolution and the Learning Revolution” during KDI School’s third special lecture held on May 30th for the 20th Anniversary Seminar Series.

Professor LEE said that within the next 10-20years, about 47% of all jobs in the United States will be threatened by technological innovation. This is already evident with manufacturing jobs halved from 21 million to 12 million during the past 35 years.

He said Korea was lagging far behind in readiness towards this shift.

Professor LEE emphasized the need for a shift from being a ‘fast follower’ to a ‘first mover’ highlighting the need to achieve a continuous creation of high tech jobs and growth.

“We should take a step further from being good at making a product developed by others to create entirely new products, industries or platforms. Many companies in Korea are fast-followers with execution capabilities but are unable to become first-movers with conceptual design capabilities.”

Professor LEE said Korea could leap forward as a country leading the Fourth Industrial Revolution only if it can achieve the transformation from a fast-follower to a first-mover. But for this to happen, a first-mover innovation ecosystem that prioritizes fundamental change is essential.

The fourth lecture of the series was delivered by Professor Min- Hwa LEE, Visiting Professor of Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Chairman of Korea Creative Economy Research Network (KCERN) on June 21st. The lecture was about “The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Regulatory Reform in Korea.” He zeroed in on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and explained how regulations in Korea can be barriers to future innovations in core industries. Professor LEE emphasized that for a better future, the Korean government should provide the appropriate system in building test beds for innovative startup companies and the private sector should advance technology and ultimately create a better market.

On July 12th, Dr. Un-Chan CHUNG, the Chairman of Korea Institute for Shared Growth (KISG) and former Prime Minister, delivered a lecture on “Shared Growth and Korean Economy” for the fifth seminar of the 20th Anniversary Special Lecture Series. According to Dr. CHUNG, we are situated in the age of transformation, where Shared Growth is needed for sustainable development. He said that Shared Growth will contribute to creating a virtuous cycle in our national economy and that the future of Korea lies in the Shared Growth system for the both Koreas and for Northeast Asia.

By Rosa DALITUICAMA (2017 MDP, Fiji)