An invitation from the minister.It is a great pleasure and honor to invite you to the first annual World Information and Communication Technology (ICT (1) (Information and Communications Technology) An umbrella term for the information technology field. See IT. (2) (International Computers and Tabulators) See ICL. 1. (testing) ICT - In Circuit Test. ) Summit 2005 to be held from June 9-11 in Seoul, Korea, under the theme, "Toward the Ubiquitous Society." It will be held in the Coex Intercontinental. This is an ambitious event that includes several different components (see page 16). Depending on your interests and your schedule, you could attend any or all the events that occur over those three days. Primarily of interest to you as an American CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. is the Business Forum, where CEOs and top executives from all over the world will explore the future of key technologies. This will be on June 9 and 10 and we're pleased to be working with Chief Executive magazine to develop this particular event. You may also be interested in the Ministerial Policy Forum, the World Megatrend Forum or the I.T. Technomart 2005 exhibition, which will be held during the three-day period. My ministry is also hosting the APT Operators Forum and the WSIS WSIS World Summit on the Information Society WSIS Who Should I Start? (fantasy football) WSIS Waste Stream Information Sheet WSIS White Smoke Identification System (US Navy) Thematic Meeting in cooperation with the Asia Pacific Telecommunity and the International Telecommunications Union See ITU. (body, standard) International Telecommunications Union - (ITU) ITU-T, the telecommunication standardisation sector of ITU, is responsible for making technical recommendations about telephone and data (including fax) communications systems for PTTs and suppliers. . The chief executive officers of telecom companies from around the world will be participating. My ministry's goal is to introduce you to exactly the people you want to meet, whether they be CEOs of Korean companies, telecom ministers or other participants in these events. Since Korea has been globally recognized as an ideal test-bed for innovative technologies and services, such as digital multimedia broadcasting Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is a digital radio transmission system for sending multimedia (radio, TV, and datacasting) to mobile devices such as mobile phones. , mobile technology and broadband communications, the World ICT Summit 2005 will provide participants with an excellent opportunity to draw a roadmap for the technological future and explore new business opportunities. I hope this event will strengthen the relations you have with the Korean government and business leaders--and lead you to increase your presence in the Korean market. I promise my unwavering support to make that happen. I hope you accept my invitation. I look forward to seeing you in Seoul. Daeje Chin, Ph.D. Minister Ministry of Information and Communication Ministry of Information and Communication
Daeje Chin is known as Korea's "Mr. Technology" because his own career is so deeply intertwined with the country's technological development. After obtaining a master's degree master's degree n. An academic degree conferred by a college or university upon those who complete at least one year of prescribed study beyond the bachelor's degree. Noun 1. in electronics engineering from the University of Massachusetts The system includes UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth (affiliated with Cape Cod Community College), UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School. It also has an online school called UMassOnline. and a Ph.D. from Stanford University Stanford University, at Stanford, Calif.; coeducational; chartered 1885, opened 1891 as Leland Stanford Junior Univ. (still the legal name). The original campus was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. David Starr Jordan was its first president. , he joined IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center The Thomas J. Watson Research Center is the headquarters for the IBM Research Division. The center is on three sites, with the main laboratory in Yorktown Heights, New York, 45 miles north of New York City, a building in Hawthorne, New York, and offices in Cambridge, in 1983. But he returned home two years later to work for Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics (SEC, Hangul:삼성전자; KSE: 005930, KSE: 005935, LSE: SMSN, LSE: SMSD) is a South Korean multinational corporation and the world's largest and leading electronics and information technology company. , which was just then getting into semiconductors in a serious way. In 1987, he was named general manager of Samsung's DRAM (dynamic random access memory Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a type of random access memory that stores each bit of data in a separate capacitor within an integrated circuit. Since real capacitors leak charge, the information eventually fades unless the capacitor charge is refreshed periodically. ) chips division. Under his helm, Samsung emerged from being a bit player in memory chips to become one of the world's top semiconductor companies, not far behind global leader Intel. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In the late '90s, after a stint as Samsung's chief technology officer, he switched to the company's digital media division. There, he embarked on making Samsung a serious player at the cutting edge of digital consumer electronics along with Philips and Sony. Just over two years ago, he was picked to be the top technology policymaker by President Roh Moo-hyun
The minister of information and communication, now 52, recently spoke about his aspirations for Korea's technogical future. Here are excerpts from the interview: Q: Korea's leadership in some areas of technology, broadband, for example, is the envy of many developing as well as developed economies. How did Korea get to be where it is today? A: Korea went through a lot of hardships during the Japanese occupation Japanese Occupation may refer to:
Process of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and era, and catching up was actually very difficult for us. I guess what the previous government of President Kim Dae Jung Kim Dae Jung (kĭm dā j  ng), 1924–, president (1998–2003) of South Korea. A native of South Jeolla prov. was striving for was to prepare Korea for the next level of change, the knowledge-based society. His government spent a lot of resources to set up a high-speed Internet See broadband. infrastructure. Fortunately, with that infrastructure, we were able to build further when the current administration took over just over two years ago and I came in as minister. I have basically tried to lift off from that point. We wanted to use our advantage in technology and move forward. The key was to understand our own capabilities, look at all the technological changes around the world, and then decide what needs to be done over the next five to 10 years. To fully integrate everything, we needed a blueprint for the future, a sort of technological roadmap for Korea. With that, we have a vision for the future. Q: What's the basic idea? A: In the information technology business, I believe there is chain reaction kind of mechanism. If you create the right thing, that should successfully trigger the next thing, facilitating further growth. People upgrade their computer because of new software or applications, which in turn leads to even more powerful software and that creates demand for different hardware. That's how the virtuous circle virtuous circle n. A condition in which a favorable circumstance or result gives rise to another that subsequently supports the first. Also called virtuous cycle. [Modeled on vicious circle.] of technology works. If we can help create new applications, we might help trigger innovation in things like digital TV and that might help us develop better content. I believe policymaking pol·i·cy·mak·ing or pol·i·cy-mak·ing n. High-level development of policy, especially official government policy. adj. Of, relating to, or involving the making of high-level policy: has to be dynamic. It should continuously change so that more businesses come in with new products and services. My belief was that instead of spending a billion dollars so late in the game trying to develop digital TVs, the government should encourage digital TV broadcasting in Korea. This will help develop content, which boosts demand for digital TVs. Then companies can plough back revenues into whatever they think will make more money for them. We policymakers just have to be facilitators. Q: What are the key tech sectors that you have identified as growth engines? A: We have identified and are focusing on nine new sectors that we hope will be the driving forces that help make Korea a global IT powerhouse. These technologies have huge growth potential, which we believe will vastly enhance our overall competitiveness. It will lead us to our goal of having a gross national product of $20,000 per capita [Latin, By the heads or polls.] A term used in the Descent and Distribution of the estate of one who dies without a will. It means to share and share alike according to the number of individuals. . The technologies that we have identified, including next-generation mobile communications, digital TV and home networking, are all expected to have a big impact on the IT industry as well as secure source technology. Other technologies like IT SoC, or IT System-on-Chip, embedded software Instructions that permanently reside in a ROM or flash memory chip. Embedded software may be immediately available to the CPU or, for faster execution, may be transferred to RAM first and then executed. and digital content are being targeted because they have a very high value-added component. We are also targeting robotics, next-generation PCs and telematics, where we believe we can carve a niche for ourselves. Koreans are willing to accept and embrace new technology and high-tech gadgets. Indeed, Korea's high-quality wired and wireless infrastructure makes it the best test-bed for local and foreign companies to develop new technologies and products. We call this our IT 839 Strategy--for eight new services that will prompt investment into building three essential networks or infrastructures, which in turn will pave the way for the nine new tech sectors that I just described. Q: How long will it take to implement this IT 839 tech blueprint? A: Our target is 2010. Hopefully, most of our plan will be implemented before then. For example, we want to upgrade our broadband infrastructure to the next level, or generation, by 2010. This broadband convergence network will be completely built and will have 20 million Koreans using it by 2010. Q: Can Korea become a leader in mobile telephony? A: As I mentioned, mobile communications is one of the key areas we have identified. In an effort to maintain Korea's leadership in mobile communications, we began full-scale W-CDMA See WCDMA. service, providing not just voice but also video and high-speed data on 2 GHz band. But we are not standing still. We are moving to next-generation mobile communications services. We expect to commercialize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based WiBro, or wireless broadband High-speed wireless transmission of data. What is "high" speed is always a changing number. Wireless systems are typically slower than land-based, wireline networks. In the past, wireless broadband started at 250 Kbps, whereas land-based broadband was generally considered to start at T1 , next year. WiBro will provide high-speed wireless connection anytime, anywhere. Later this year, 3G Evolution Technology, which is a combination of W-CDMA and OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) A digital transmission technique that uses a large number of carriers spaced apart at slightly different frequencies. , will be commercialized. Our strategy to adopt CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) A method for transmitting simultaneous signals over a shared portion of the spectrum. The foremost application of CDMA is the digital cellular phone technology from QUALCOMM that operates in the 800 MHz band and 1.9 GHz PCS band. technology ahead of our competitors and commercialize it before others turned out to be very successful. Since the launch of CDMA services in 1996, Korean companies making CDMA products dominated the sector. Last year, Korean companies produced over 62 percent of all CDMA handsets worldwide. As I said, we will be the first in the world with our WiBro service. We have already selected WiBro operators, and the service will be launched in about a year. Q: China has emerged as a huge manufacturing base for technology products, and Japan is still a leader in key tech areas. What sort of collaboration do you see between Korea and its two neighbors in technology? A: Our core strategy is to select the best niche for ourselves and cooperate with our neighbors on other things. China is emerging as a strong base for manufacturing technology products; Korea is a base for commercialization of technology; and Japan is still a base for basic and core technology. I believe each country should maximize its strengths and minimize its weaknesses through strategic cooperation. We have been having three-party IT meetings and have included our nine core technologies. We believe Korea can concentrate on new technology development as a test-bed. After we have proven a product's commercial viability here in Korea, China can undertake the mass production of the item. Because we have such strong hardware technology, Korea would also like to work closely with India and help improve its software technology. Q: Will there be opportunities for foreign tech companies in these sectors? A: HP, Intel, IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) and Fraunhofer are among the companies that have already started setting up their R & D centers in Korea. We expect these new R & D centers will take advantage of the three infrastructure networks and the nine new driving forces we have identified. We are providing matching funds Noun 1. matching funds - funds that will be supplied in an amount matching the funds available from other sources cash in hand, finances, funds, monetary resource, pecuniary resource - assets in the form of money for R & D in some of the core technology areas. I'd say Korea is an attractive place for technology companies to set up their research base. We have the world's leading high-speed Internet and telecom infrastructure, enhanced IT manufacturing capabilities and talented manpower. We are also promoting R & D environments at Digital Media City, a huge IT complex in Sang-Am Dong, as well as at the Specialized Cluster being set up for RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) A data collection technology that uses electronic tags for storing data. The tag, also known as an "electronic label," "transponder" or "code plate," is made up of an RFID chip attached to an antenna. and Ubiquitous Sensor Network A low-speed industrial network that is used to connect sensors to actuators. A sensor network implies limited or no controller functions. Multiple sensor networks may be coupled to form device networks. See industrial control network. in Song-Do by 2007. Q: Korea has been known mainly for its niche in hardware and components. What about software? A: The software space has been dominated by large global companies like Microsoft and Oracle. We see our niche in specific areas like security software and wireless application software. For example, Timax, which is a local company, has done very well in a segment where IBM and BEA BEA - Basic programming Environment for interactive-graphical Applications, from Siemens-Nixdorf. are strong and is continuing to gain market share locally. The rapid growth of open-source and digital conversion has boosted the importance of embedded software, and this will open up bigger opportunities for local software companies. We are trying to help speed up open-source systems by building partnerships, like a three-way partnership with Japan and China. In the software area, we are trying to support research and industry-academic cooperation. We are restructuring university programs and other IT research center programs to train and grow local talent. Q: Do the private sector and government need to work more closely together? A: Absolutely. When I was in the private sector, I used to wonder why the government wasn't doing this or that. I wished then that the government would listen to the private sector so that everyone could make money. Since I came here as a minister, I have changed the way things work. Now, the government and private sector are constantly exchanging ideas. We are always asking the private sector for their suggestions and advice. We see this relationship as a partnership between government and private sector that is going to move the Korean IT sector forward. When I was in the private sector, I just met our customers. Now, in government, I meet executives in the private sector, research institutes and other policymakers. We are constantly bouncing ideas back and forth and checking out their viability. Q: How has your own background helped you formulate Korea's technology blueprint? A: I spent most of my working life in the private sector. I was at Samsung for 18 years. I am basically an engineer by training and technology is my background, my passion. Spending so much time in the private sector exposed me to global markets and global business leaders. I was fortunate to learn management skills at Samsung, perhaps the best training ground in Korea. Somehow the President picked me for this cabinet position even though I had never met him. Since I joined the government, the only difference is that the people I am working with are public servants rather than employees of a company that is trying to make money. For public-sector people, the target is not necessarily a particular product or revenue or profits but formulating policies that impact the whole sector. Moreover, the scope of work is some-what bigger here. At Samsung, for example, I looked at a range of telecom products. As a minister, I deal with the whole telecom policy, or perhaps resolve a conflict with the U.S. government, or meet investors or other business people in the technology sector to help them grow their business. Q: Was it a big cultural shock for a top Samsung executive to come into government? A: My ministry is a little different because I am the fifth minister from the private sector to head it. So the people here know what a boss who comes from the private sector wants. My style is probably different from others in terms of openness and my constant checking on execution of projects. I like to give my employees a clear object or goal. This is more like the Samsung style. But, yes, it took close to six months for them to get used to my style and for me to get used to their style, but I now have a very good working relationship with people here in the ministry. My style is basically to get the processes and systems in place so that we have consistency. This is how large multinational companies like GE, Intel and Samsung work. People may come and go, but processes are in place that keep the whole system working smoothly. RELATED ARTICLE: WHAT KOREA'S "IT 839" PLAN IS ALL ABOUT The Ministry of Information and Communciations is pushing this plan so that the country can sustain its current lead in broadband and related technologies. It hopes the eight services and three new infrastructures will create nine areas of economic growth. EIGHT SERVICES 1 WiBro 2 Digital Multimedia Broadcasting 3 Home Networking 4 Telematics 5 Radio Frequency Identification See RFID. 6 W-CDMA, the next generation of cellular telephony 7 Terrestrial Digital TV 8 Internet Telephony Another term for IP telephony and VoIP. In the late 1990s, some people made a distinction between Internet Telephony and VoIP: Internet telephony referred to voice over the public Internet, while VoIP referred to voice over private IP networks. (VoIP) THREE INFRASTRUCTURES 1 Broadband Convergence Network 2 Ubiquitous Sensor Network 3 Next-Generation Internet Protocol See Internet and TCP/IP. (networking) Internet Protocol - (IP) The network layer for the TCP/IP protocol suite widely used on Ethernet networks, defined in STD 5, RFC 791. IP is a connectionless, best-effort packet switching protocol. NINE NEW GROWTH ENGINES 1 Next-Generation Communications Devices 2 Digital TV/Broadcasting Devices 3 Home Network Devices 4 IT SoC (System-on-Chips) 5 Next-Generation Personal Computers 6 Embedded Software 7 Digital Content and Software Solutions 8 Telematic Devices 9 Intelligent Service Robot Service robots assist human beings, typically by performing a job that is dirty, dull, distant, dangerous or repetitive, including household chores. They typically are autonomous and/or operated by a build in control system, with manual override options. |
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