Expert urges S. Korea to seek paradigm change for industrial revolution

By Lim Chang-won Posted : September 13, 2018, 09:47 Updated : September 13, 2018, 09:47

[Photo by Yoo Dae-gil = dbeorlf123@ajunews.com]



SEOUL -- South Korea needs proactive measures and structural innovation in political, educational and industrial sectors to create and pre-occupy high-quality future jobs if it wants to survive in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a big data expert said.

Led by the United States, China and Germany, "digital hegemony" is accelerating in the global market, Cha Sang-kyun, director of Seoul National University's Big Data Institute, told the Good Growth Global Forum in Seoul, saying existing practices and regulations are hampering innovation.

Without the creation of new, high-quality jobs, existing jobs can become encroached by countries with economies of scale such as China, he said, calling for guard against China's fast-growing digital power.

"If the present change is a revolution, discontinuity with the past is inevitable. The future of individuals, businesses and states depends on how well they lead this historical change proactively. That's why it's important to preoccupy future jobs in the global market," Cha said.

The professor has led a campaign to nurture talent in technologies related to big data and artificial intelligence, urging South Korean government officials to follow the footsteps of Chinese policymakers who have supported bold investments in technologies.

"Opportunities are still alive when we move ahead of others in the era where all disciplines and industries are based on data," he said, suggesting political, educational and industrial sectors should abandon their "short-term symptomatic therapy."

First of all, South Korea should change its curriculum and cultivate the people of talent who can accommodate interindustry convergence and use digital tools based on big data and artificial intelligence in all disciplines. "We need a culture in which digital talent can make innovative experiments in a new financial, legal and institutional environment."

"In order to make fundamental changes in our country, we need to lead technological start-ups through free innovative experiments and a paradigm innovation of research and development. Above all, we need full efforts to spread the discipline of data science widely."

 
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기