There was analysis that since the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the global competition to secure jobs has been intensifying among nations. Added to this, it has been argued that concentrating on producing human resources is of utmost importance for sustainable innovative growth.

According to announcement on the 2nd by the Office for Innovative Growth under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, SNU professor Sang Kyun Cha participated as a lecturer in ‘The 3rd Innovative Growth Pioneer Lecture and Open Debate(제 3회 혁신성장선구자 강연 및 자유 토론회)’ held on October 1st at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry and said, “The Fourth Industrial Revolution is a hegemonic competition to secure jobs around the globe. To sustain innovative growth, it is important to develop new human resources and to create an environment where they can freely experiment.”

He argued, “Korea needs to change its educational system, attract valuable human resources from overseas, and innovate the national R&D system.

This day’s lecture was on “U.S. and China’s digital hegemony competition and Korea’s innovative growth”. The lecture was arranged for a chance to look through policy-level efforts of various nations including the U.S. and China in the field of digital high-tech industry such as AI and Big Data and to search for Korea’s direction in innovative growth.

Prof. Cha examined referenced examples of major innovations from the U.S., China, and Germany, which are arising as major players in the Fourth Industrial Revolution hegemonic competition. In particular, he looked into innovation efforts in Chinese universities such as Tsinghua University, innovation and development examples in Chinese companies in the private sector such as Baidu and BYD, and governmental policies in China such as ‘Manufacturing 2025 Report’ and ‘Thousand Talents Program’.

After the lecture, there was an open debate among the lecture participants including Prof. Cha. The participants discussed topics such as the possibility of China gaining the upper hand in the digital hegemonic competition and measures to promote venture companies beginning in Korean universities.

Prof. Cha is currently a professor in the department of ECE at SNU and is also serving as the Director of the Big Data Institute. He is the co-developer of ‘SAP HANA’, a real time analysis platform for big data.

The Office for Innovative Growth is inviting pioneers in the key fields of innovative growth such as the top 3 strategic investments, top 8 leading projects, and promotion of innovative human resources, to give lectures. The next speaker is suggested by the recently invited lecturer.

Source: http://ee.snu.ac.kr/community/news?bm=v&bbsidx=47989
Translated by: Jee Hyun Lee, English Editor of Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, jlee621@snu.ac.kr